![](https://ohsheglows.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Healthy_Strawberry_Oat_Squares_IMG_7581_2-1440x960.jpg)
I wouldn’t call myself a procrastinator in most areas of my life, with the exception of a few things such as business taxes, receipt entering, and organizing my Recipes page. I usually accomplish my tasks before they are ‘due’ without feeling in a panic and I also like to arrive early for meetings, appointments, and dates. Yesterday, my Project Food Blog entry was almost finished by mid-afternoon, save for a few last minute edits. It wasn’t due until 6pm, so I had time on my side. I started working on other things and all of a sudden it was 5:40pm. Eric said, worried, ‘Aren’t you going to upload your post?’
I figured I still had quite a bit of time left so I kept working on things. At 5:45pm and I hit publish, thinking nothing of it.
And that is when I realized that our internet connection was dead.
Stay calm.
Luckily, after a few minutes the internet started to work again! I thought all was fine and dandy and I hit publish again. Painful minute after painful minute passed and it still had not uploaded. We have a very slow internet connection and I was convinced that Live Writer was going to time out on me. Finally, it posted at 5:58pm and I submitted the post in my Foodbuzz profile. I was just under the wire by mere seconds.
Moral of the story: Never put your faith in technology. It will go wonky at the last second and your blood pressure will go through the roof.
If this stress-inducing episode occurs, you can comfort yourself by making oat squares, with a healthy twist. I had strawberries leftover from the dessert pizza I made on the weekend, but you could also use pre-made jam too.
Or just eat Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache and call it a day. Both methods are completely acceptable.
![20101018-IMG_7582 20101018-IMG_7582](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7582.jpg)
![Healthy Strawberry Oat Squares with Homemade Jam](https://ohsheglows.com/gs_images/2023/07/Healthy_Strawberry_Oat_Squares_IMG_7581_2-768x768.jpg)
Healthy Strawberry Oat Squares with Homemade Jam
![](https://ohsheglows.com/wp-content/plugins/osg-recipes/images/ornament_long_artichoke.png)
Yield
16 squares
Prep time
Rest time
30 minutes
Cook time
Total time
Ever since I was a young girl, I have loved strawberry oat bars and I would often have Strawberry nutrigrain bars in my lunches. While these squares aren’t a nutri-grain bar, the taste is similar. I have made this popular square much healthier, cutting the sugar and butter by half, and of course, it is vegan too. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. You won’t be able to stop at just one. Or three! Adapted from Food.com.
Ingredients
For the oat base
- 1.5 cups regular oats
- 1 cup whole-grain Kamut flour (or mix of white and whole wheat)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup Sucanat sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 chia egg (1 tbsp chia seeds+ 4 tbsp warm water, mixed)
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Earth Balance, melted
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds (for topping only)
For the strawberry chia seed jam
- 2 & 1/4 cups chopped strawberries, finely chopped into 1/4 inch pieces OR approx 1 cup pre-made jam
- 3-4 tbsp sugar, to taste (liquid or dry sweeteners will work)
- 1-2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a square pan (I used a 9x9) with parchment paper and oil the sides of the pan and base.
- For the jam: In a medium sized pot, add the chopped strawberries and sugar. Heat over medium until the strawberries begin to sweat and it gets a bit watery. Once it cooks down a bit, add in the chia seeds, and stir well.
- Bring to a low boil and then simmer over low to medium heat for at least 10-15 minutes. Once it has thickened a bit, remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and cool for 15-30 mins (you can pop it in the fridge or freezer to cool quicker). I like to add the mixture to a mini food processor and process it until mostly smooth.
- In a small bowl, mix the chia or flax egg and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the oat base dry ingredients: oats, flour, Sucanat/brown sugar, baking soda, salt.
- In a small bowl, mix the melted earth balance, maple syrup, almond milk, and chia egg. Stir well. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well, using hands if necessary.
- Set aside 1/2 cup of the dough for the topping.
- Pour the oat mixture onto the square pan and press down with fingers. Use a pastry roller to smooth out if desired.
- Pour on the strawberry mixture and smooth out. Now sprinkle on the reserved 1/2 cup oat mixture and sprinkle on 1 tbsp of sesame seeds or coconut.
- Bake at 350°F for approximately 30 minutes. Allow to fully cool for at least 30-40 minutes before gently removing from pan. Slice and then store in a container in the fridge to keep firm.
In my first attempt at making the strawberry ‘jam’ I added in a tablespoon of cornstarch after about 10 minutes of cooking. I was left with clumpy white bits of cornstarch throughout. Flop #1. I think I should have thinned it out with a bit of water first.
Second batch:
![20101018-IMG_7494 20101018-IMG_7494](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7494.jpg)
For the second batch of jam, I thickened it up with chia seeds! Arrowroot powder might work well too.
Spread your delicious crumbly mixture into the pan:
![20101018-IMG_7500 20101018-IMG_7500](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7500.jpg)
Roll it out if you are obsessed with your Dollarstore pastry roller like I am.
![20101018-IMG_7508 20101018-IMG_7508](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7508.jpg)
Mmmm. Smooth and lovely.
![20101018-IMG_7512 20101018-IMG_7512](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7512.jpg)
Spread on your cooled jam:
![20101018-IMG_7542 20101018-IMG_7542](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7542.jpg)
crumble on the oat mixture that you set aside…
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![20101018-IMG_7564 20101018-IMG_7564](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7564.jpg)
Sprinkle on sesame seeds or coconut to make it really pop.
![20101018-IMG_7568 20101018-IMG_7568](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7568.jpg)
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350F.
That’s what I’m talking about.
![20101018-IMG_7576 20101018-IMG_7576](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7576.jpg)
![20101018-IMG_7579 20101018-IMG_7579](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7579.jpg)
Slice into 16 squares.
![20101018-IMG_7581 20101018-IMG_7581](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7581.jpg)
![20101018-IMG_7593 20101018-IMG_7593](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7593.jpg)
or you can make bars and wrap them up for lunch!
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![20101018-IMG_7603 20101018-IMG_7603](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7603.jpg)
You will not be able to eat just one. Three if you are lucky. I had to shove these into the freezer asap. ;)
They are delicious.
![20101018-IMG_7610 20101018-IMG_7610](/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/20101018IMG_7610.jpg)
I’m thinking you could have a lot of fun with this recipe. More fun than should be legal perhaps. You could try making blueberry, raspberry, or even peach jam! I am getting excited just thinking about the possibilities…
Update: A comment below suggested making these with pumpkin butter! That would be wickedly delicious and seasonally appropriate to boot.
you have so much self-control – i don’t know if mine would have made it to the freezer! yum!
These loook delicious! Do you suppose they’d come out okay with all whole wheat flour?
Why haven’t you been using whole wheat pastry flour lately?
No reason, I just go through flour phases ;)
hmm not sure. I think all w/w might make them a bit dry, but im not sure.
Hi Teresa, if you mean by using all whole wheat flour for the flour measure, then I’m pleased to report that it does work! I just taste-tested a square and it’s lovely, nice and nutty. Hope this helps :)
*Grin* I have batch #2 in the oven now, made with WW regular (non-pastry) flour for the flour measure again and it’s going to be lovely. This time the homemade jam is blueberry, but I ran out of chia for the second tablespoon of chia, so I added freshly ground flax seeds, milled in my coffee grinder very finely. It tastes good, but I would hesitate to recommend ground flax for jam to be served on its own as it retains the ground flax texture and has a slightly nutty taste. It will be unnoticeable though sandwiched between bites of breakbast bar. Thanks so much, Angela!
these are BEAUTIFUL !! I am so glad I like strawberries again…
I loved Strawberry Nutrigrain bars pre-vegan, too… These look like a delectable substitute and I can’t wait to make them! You’ve got my vote for Foodbuzz… I’m so glad you got your entry in!
Gah, technology – you can never count on it! Glad you met your deadline! The strawberry bars look delicious! I have to use the freezer trick on a lot of my baked goods too. That way I can pull out just one (alright, fine – I pull out more like three or four) at a time to snack on.
These are like Nutri-grain bars! But natural and healthier! I think cherries or peaches sound like bar-worthy fruits!
I love these because they are made with strawberry! I am not a huge fan of grape.
I made fig bars much like these awhile back but never perfected the recipe–I guess I don’t need to anymore :). Thanks for saving me the work haha. I WANT that pastry roller! Oh my goodness. I would roll everything with that.
These look delicious. I can’t wait to give them a try!!
these look delicious–nom nom nom!
Oh my gosh, I’d be so stressed about getting your post published in time, too! That’s happened to me before with work files that I needed to email… so stressful! Glad it all worked out okay!
And those strawberry oat squares look like they’d make ANYTHING better!! :)
I HATE when things like that happen. And they always happen at the most stressful times, don’t they? I’m so glad you got it published. You deserve to keep on going all the way through.
Glad you beat the deadline! I’ve been dealing with my own tech issues all morning and I’m frustrated as can be!
Ooh they sound delicious and they LOOk delicious! So bright! I love it :)
Oh geeze, I have all these ingredients at home, I guess I will have to make these!
Angela your foodbuzz post looks great — sorry to hear about tech problems, those are the worst!!!
I love that little pastry roller, too! We have a big party we’re throwing this weekend, and I’ve been looking for a healthy dessert to serve. I definitely am putting this one in the running. Or maybe just a huge bowl of the ganache!
These remind me of Nutrigrain bars, you know, except the additives and preservatives. Super yummy looking!
Oh Angela, I love you…
and I, you!
ooooh my. i may have to set those as my desktop background at work!!! they look delicious! that’s such a great idea to use chia seeds as a jam thickener. i’d never thought of it but it must really boost the nutrition too. :D i like it!
I loved nutrigrain bars when I was younger. These look more delicious and wholesome.