There are fancy squares and then there are not-so-fancy squares.
These are the not-so-fancy squares. In fact, they are downright boring, but the beauty is you can dress them up anyway you like. Just like a basic bowl of oatmeal, these squares can be changed up on a whim.
My goal was to make a basic everyday oatmeal square for on-the-go breakfasts or snack attacks. They aren’t super sweet or bursting with chocolate and fancy mix-ins, although, you could make them that way if you wanted too! Filled with flax, chia, and whole grains, it’s functional food at its finest. The nutritional stats are also impressive packing in 7 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein per large square.
Despite eating half the batch, I actually made these for Eric (remember that guy who loathes oatmeal?). He’s been insanely busy with his new role at work and now spends the better part of his days trapped in meetings without any healthy food on hand.
His options in meetings are usually the following: 1) cookies the size of his face, 2) pizza, or 3) a muffin the size of his butt (which is cute and perfectly rounded).
While it’s true that he loathes traditional oatmeal, if I bake it up in a square he’s all over it. And by all over it, I mean he needed to slather Earth Balance all over the square before deeming it perfect. Like I said, these can be dressed up any way you want…
On The Glow Basic Oatmeal Squares
Yield
9 large squares
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Think of this oatmeal square as basic baked oatmeal that can be dressed up any way you like. Each large square contains a tablespoon of flax and a teaspoon of chia seeds as well as 7 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein. Feel free to add in nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, and other mix-ins as you desire. Just be careful about frozen fruit. When I made a trial with frozen blueberries they became quite soggy. Use fresh blueberries and you should be fine.
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups regular rolled oats (not instant oats), divided
- 3 tbsp chia seed
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ground flax
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1.5 cups almond milk (or other milk)
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
- 2 tbsp nut or seed butter
- 1 banana, chopped small
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- Dry sweetener, to taste if you want them a bit sweeter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8 inch square pan with two pieces of parchment paper.
- In a blender or food processor, blend/process 1 cup of the oats until a flour forms. Or you can just use 1 cup of oat flour.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oat flour, 1.5 cups rolled oats, chia, flax, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: milk, syrup, nut/seed butter, banana, vanilla until no clumps remain. Add wet to dry and stir until combined. Add dry sweetener to taste if desired. Fold in any nuts or dried fruit that you desire.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth out. Bake for 35-40 minutes until lightly golden along edge and it springs back slowly when touched. I baked them for 40 minutes, but baking time may vary. Place pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes, carefully remove, and cool on rack before slicing.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)The first trial I made was with frozen blueberries (above). Unfortunately they made the bars quite soggy (although tasty). Fresh blueberries would probably be a better option, so I will try that in the summer when they are in season. Sadly, that is a long time away…as I sit here watching a snow storm outside my window!
For the second batch, I left out the blueberries to see if I could get the consistency a bit better.
[Notice my hand writing is getting a bit neater? Ok not really, but I’m happy to say I now keep all my recipe trials in one notebook. No more scattered pages all over the house!]
Anywho, mix the dry ingredients together: ground flax, cinnamon, oats + oat flour (I ground up 1 cup of oats), chia seed, baking powder, and a touch of salt.
Then the wet ingredients: pure maple syrup, almond milk, vanilla, nut/seed butter, and a chopped banana. Feel free to use another milk, nut/seed butter, and liquid sweetener if desired.
Whisk together in another bowl, making sure to break up the nut/seed butter.
Add the wet to dry and mix well.
I planned on adding chocolate, but discovered that I was all out. How does that even happen?
Pour into an 8 inch square pan lined with two pieces of parchment paper.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, cool, and enjoy! I baked them for 40, but I have a feeling that baking time will vary depending on the brand of oats used. I’ve found that some rolled oats absorb more liquid than others. Just watch it closely after 35 minutes. When it slowly springs back up when you press it, it should be good to go.
These are very soft and fluffy with tiny bites of banana throughout. We found that they are a bit plain on their own, but I still managed to eat 3 in a row just to be sure. I like to slice the square in half and make a jam & sunflower seed butter sandwich.
Note to self: restock chocolate chip supply stat.
Have a wonderful Friday!
I’m patiently waiting for my dinner to come out of the oven and that first picture made me SALIVATE! Oatmeal square sammich with PB & J?! Yes, please!
Made these last night. Added some goji berries, raisins and currants on top, as well as tons more cinnamon. They were deeeeelish! Thanks for the recipe!
Those look delicious! I only just started reading your blog after seeing it in Fitness magazine’s favourite blogs, and I have to say, I got quite excited when I saw that big yellow cinnamon container and realized you too were Canadian!
haha go no name!
Enjoy Arizona, I LOVE Tucson, the hiking is amazing. I made these bars and they are great for filling you up. I did add chocolate chips, but I’m using these bars to break myself of a store bought muffin habit that started up at Christmas. And they are working. Thanks!
I made these last night but tried to add some Oomph! to them since you mentioned they were sort of plain. I zested a half a lemon into the wet ingredients, and upped the spiced to 1-1/2tsp Cinnamon, 1/2tsp Nutmeg, and about 1/8 tsp Ground Ginger.
I was also out of bananas, so I subbed in a 1/3C Unsweetened Apple Sauce, and switched out the Maple Syrup for 1/4C Honey (Marshmallow flavored!)
Thanks for the recipe/inspiration! They turned out fab!
YUM! These bars are simple, yet delicious! Not too sweet, and a tad bit chewy, topped with a dab of sunbutter and jam, made a delightful mid-morning snack. Thank you for the recipe! :o)
This just made my week! No joke! I eat oats every morning but getting sick of the same thing I CAN’T wait to try!
Wow! These are FANTASTIC!! I used 1 c spelt flour instead of the oat flour because my blender was wet. I also only used 2 T maple syrup and added 4 dates soaked in 1/3 c water – perfectly sweet! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! :-)
I made these oatmeal squares last night with soy butter and mini vegan chocolate chips. They’re amazing! What a great recipe!
Just made them added some dark chocolate chips. Upped the banana to two my oh my are thy good. I’m new to vegan baking just realized you can eat all the raw batter you want without salmonella worries Thanks for the recipe
Angela – 1. I love our blog.. it always gets me inspired and back on track if I’m wavering from my healthy eating habits. 2. These look delicious, I am totally making them tomorrow! 3. We are all about the contigo mugs as well – yay costco! 3. We buy the same maple syrup at independent/superstore – I can never believe how much cheaper it is than the others!! 4. I made your glow kale salad last week with the lightened lemon-tahini dressing.. wow, that recipe is genius! I couldn’t stop going back to the fridge and snacking on the pieces of kale with the dressing massaged in them! 5. I also tried the avocado pasta last week, wow as well! I used the base ‘dressing’ before adding avocado as a salad dressing the next day too, and it was amazing! it is now a staple in our house! 6. Your anxiety post about your steep hike is totally inspiring! I want to go and hike a huge mountain now… too bad it’s cold/rainy/bizarre winter right now! I once tore ligaments on a mountain top in Killarney Prov. Park (near Sudbury).. it was a 2-hr hike one way and they had to send an air ambulance for me! it’s quite the story.. lol!
Thanks again for your awesome blog and mind-blowingly delicious recipes! You are awesome!
omg, these look amazing. i am making them tonight… maybe peanut butter and chocolate chips in the middle!
Just made these and they are wonderful! All of your recipes are ;) How would you recommend storing them?
Angela
Thank you for the recipe. I just got braces and these are soft for eating with my sore teeth and also very delicious. Making a double batch now with a tad more PB2.com to give it a peanutty flavor.
Looks cute. Looks good and taste great
I just put a batch (with chocolate chips!) in the oven. I’m excited to have these as on-the-go breakfasts. I love your site!
This is the 3rd oatmeal square recipe I tried and I was starting to lose hope! NO MORE! Mmmmmmm….
I made these and they were just as you described – basic, not too sweet but oh so yummy! I love that they are so healthy – the perfect afternoon pick me up.
I just recently stumbled on your blog and I must say that I can’t get enough! I want to try all your recipes! I made your Weekend Glow Kale Salad tonight and plan to take it for lunch tomorrow – I’ll be sure to let you know what I think as it will be my first experience with kale. As a teen I worked at Bonanza and until just recently thought kale was only good as a salad bar garnish to cover up the ice!
Hi Angela,
These look fantastic — I can’t wait to try them! But what if, say, I wanted to add some cocoa powder to the recipe to make “On the Glow Basic CHOCOLATE Oatmeal Squares”? Would I need to decrease the amount of flour? If so, by how much?
Thank you for this and all of your amazing recipes!
Denise
Hey Denise, I’m not too sure, I probably owuldn’t decrease the flour by much, if any. I’d probably try adding a few tbsp cocoa powder, but you will likely have to increase the sweetener a bit since the powder is so bitter. let me know if you try them!
I made these over the weekend … they are wonderful! We ended up adding a little PB to them as “frosting” .. :) Love your recipes … Thanks for sharing!