Houston, we have a working oven! This is what I screamed to Eric when I turned on our newly installed oven for the first time this weekend. To celebrate this momentous occasion I made something I’ve been craving for the past 6 weeks – warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies. [Fact: store-bought cookies just aren’t the same.] Then I made oatmeal cookie bars. Somehow I convinced Eric that these were an “anniversary gift” that I made “just for him” (he’s been in OSG baked good withdrawal during this kitchen reno), but we all know that this ready-to-pop, basketball smugglin’ preggo lady planned on eating her fair share complete with Coffee Shop Worthy Caramel Hazelnut Milk. Yea, it was a good weekend. I hope my oven and I shall never part again.
What can I tell you about these bars? Well, first off, we could not stop eating them. Eric said, “They are so light, I feel like I could eat 6 of them without feeling sick!” I suppose that’s a good thing? The gluten-free cookie base is made of up rolled oats (some of which I ground into a flour for binding purposes) and almond flour, just like my favourite GF + vegan cookies on the blog. There aren’t any gums or starches to speak of and because of this they are quite delicate when they first come out of the oven, but the crust bakes up crisp, chewy, and slightly caramelized so it’s a terrific balance. Let me tell you – the crispy corner pieces are prime real estate! Only your favourite people are worthy of the corner pieces. If you have one of those “Baker’s Edge” brownie pans, now would be a good time to put it to use. Then you can avoid that awkward moment when you hand the middle piece to a friend and take the corner piece for yourself.
I used coconut sugar to give the bars a gorgeous dark golden hue and a hint of toffee/caramel flavour. The added bonus when using coconut sugar is that it has a low glycemic index compared to other sugars (35), so it won’t spike your blood sugar as quickly. According to my logic, this means I can eat twice as many. Correct? Phew.
I don’t think I need to tell you that these are great with a scoop of vegan ice cream, but I’ll throw it out there just in case. We turned one into an open-faced ice cream sandwich by chilling a bar and serving it with a scoop of vegan ice cream on top. Oh my lanta. It’s great to have an oven.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Toffee Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie Bars
Yield
12 bars
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These cookie bars are soft, delicate, and chewy in the middle with a crispy outer edge. Coconut sugar lends a wonderful toffee flavour to these bars. Try serving them with vegan ice cream for an easy dessert or just enjoy them with some homemade almond milk. Recipe adapted from my vegan and GF cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon (8 g) ground flax
- 3 tablespoons (45 mL) water
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (75 mL) virgin coconut oil, softened
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) natural smooth almond butter
- 3/4 cup (120 g) coconut sugar*
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or pink Himalayan salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (108 g) oat flour**
- 3/4 cup (75 g) gluten-free rolled oats
- 3/4 cup (75 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (60 g) non-dairy mini chocolate chips, divided
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl or mug and set aside to thicken.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the coconut oil, almond butter, and sugar with electric beaters until combined.
- Pour in the flax mixture and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Add the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and beat again.
- Finally add in the oat flour, rolled oats, almond flour, and 1/4 cup of chocolate chips (reserving the 1 tablespoon for later) and beat until combined.
- Spoon dough into prepared pan and spread out until smooth and even. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top and press down. I use a pastry roller to roll the dough out even.
- Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden and firm around the edges. (The edges will be high and the middle portion will be sunken a bit. This is all normal!)
- Gently place the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Then, carefully lift out the bars and place directly on cooling rack for another 10 minutes or so, until mostly cool. Slice and enjoy! Note: The bars will crumble slightly if sliced warm, but they firm up nicely when cooled.
- Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or in the freezer (tightly wrapped and placed in a freezer bag) for up to 3 to 4 weeks.
Tip:
- * Instead of coconut sugar, you can try using unpacked light brown sugar.
- ** To make the freshly ground oat flour, add 3/4 cup rolled oats into a high speed blender. Blend on high until a very fine flour forms. This will make 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of oat flour. Or you can simply use store-bought oat flour.
- This recipe is an updated version as of May 24/16. The previous version did not contain almond butter, and it had 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil. Everything else is the same.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Cheers to September, baking, and working ovens!
I made these this weekend and it was delish! The only modifications I made were subbing half coconut sugar and half brown sugar, and then sprinkling in some chia seeds in the end. I baked mine for 20min and they didn’t brown at all (that’s ok), but then were crumbly even after cooling down. Perhaps I needed more of a binder? Either way, the flavors were spot on and my kids loved it with yogurt and fresh fruit, and I enjoyed it as a quick breakfast/snack in the morning. Winner!
I normally just read and don’t comment, but had to comment to say these bars are incredible! I do not eat gluten free but like to have baked good options for bringing to gatherings where there are people who are, and this will be #1 on my list for that and possibly just in general because they are so good. Thanks and thinking of you in these last few weeks of your pregnancy! I’m 24 weeks along with my second here :).
These bars are AH-MAZING!! LOVE!
Made these yesterday evening!!!
I had cononut sugar but I used sucanat and they taste so delicious :-)
Great suggestion to add pecan nuts! Let’s try for next time.
So…made these yesterday and they were definitely yummy. I had to stop myself from eating the raw batter (in some ways I preferred the bowl lickings to the actual bars – is that bad?).
One question – they did turn out a bit crumbly (as in even once cool, they are hold to eat without a mess)…I’m wondering if I took them out to soon or if I didn’t do the flax egg right…
As I’m a vegetarian (not vegan), maybe I should try regular egg for additional binding…
Has anyone else encountered a crumbly problem? Anyone have suggestions?
(note: they were golden brown when removed but not “cracked around the edges” as suggested in the recipe)…
I didn’t have a problem, but did press the whole thing down pretty tightly (with wet hands so nothing stuck to me) before baking and wonder if that helped? They hold together fine at room temperature but even better from the fridge (and taste extremely good cold!).
I had a crumbly problem, too. I did press mine down a bit with a spatula, too. I may try baking for 5 minutes longer next time. Otherwise, I figure, who cares if it’s not exactly a bar? It’s still delicious to eat with a fork! :)
in the comment above, “hold” should be “hard”
hard to eat without a mess..
Hi! Longtime stalker, first-time commentor. These were delicious! Thank you for all your healthy treats!
I’ve enjoyed reading your pregnancy journey. Thank you so much for sharing! I hope to go down that road very soon, so it’s been very sweet reading your entries. :)
Thanks for your comment Rachael! So happy you are enjoying the blog + recipes. :)
Hi, Angela. I have a question in general, not anything to do with this recipe! I know you use almonds in many of your recipes. And I myself am I huge fan of them; they are so good for you! Have you heard of the nasty stories about almonds and the pasteurization process? It has made me become SO conscious of almonds, aka I have not been eating them. I believe the nastiness of it. Many others I mention it to say it is something I should not be worried about. I don’t know if you can get your hands on “good” almonds with living in Canada, but in the U.S. it is mandatory all almonds be pasteurized. There are places in California to purchase almonds from outside of the U.S., yet I live nowhere near Cali! My only other option is to purchase them from another country such as Spain, and they are quite pricey. Anyway, I guess I just wanted to pick your brain about the almond fiasco. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you!
~Olivia
Hey Olivia!
Firstly, I am so sorry it’s taken me this long to reply! Our baby girl came along and she had other plans. haha. Anyway, you might find these articles helpful:
http://naturalfamilytoday.com/nutrition/pasteurizing-almonds-good-or-bad/
http://girlmeetsnourishment.com/your-raw-almonds-arent-raw/
Hope this helps!
I had no almond flour but made these anyway. I used my own gluten-free flour blend instead so I’m sure the texture suffered but they were still very tasty and satisfying!
These are currently baking in the oven :) I have high hopes. I taste-tested the dough (obviously!) before baking and it was to die for! Great recipe for fall. Next up I’m trying out your pumpkin gingerbread bars!
Side note: My dad was admitted to the hospital for a week due to an infection and everyday I brought him some goodies…all recipes came from your site :) he loved it all! He’s a big fan of whole, natural ingredients and he was pretty impressed I must say! Thanks again.
Is it possible to substitute regular sugar/brown sugar for the coconut sugar?
I used unrefined cane sugar instead of coconut sugar, and mine turned out just fine. I read in a previous comment somebody else used brown sugar and said it worked, too.
These are wonderful! Super easy to make and I always appreciate that your recipe instructions always cover so many questions that crop up for me: i.e. is it worth buying coconut sugar? (answer, yes!), should these sit in the pan, should I chill them, etc. The almond flour and coconut oil make these taste really buttery. In place of chocolate chips I did roughly chop a small tablet (1.65 oz) of dark chocolate and sprinkled that in. Definitely a keeper. Thanks so much, Angela!
Holy shit, these motherfuckers are tasty! I ate the whole damn bunch. My stupid kids kept bitching for a taste. I say, to hell with them!
These bars are awesome! I still can’t believe how well they turned out. I’ve made them twice already. It’s so nice to be able to have a healthy, great-tasting snack to fall back on.
I made these with 85% chocolate chunks, regular eggs and brown sugar…really yummy! Thanks for sharing!
Love love love your website!! Thank you!
Can I substitute coconut flour or brown rice flour for the almond flour??
Well I just made them and they are delicious!! I used Oat flour, coconut and brown rice and 1 organic egg instead of flax egg.
Hi Angela
I have recently retired and am very excited about trying to new recipies with my new found time. I am also trying to lose weight and increase my exercise so am following weight watchers and am wondering if you have the fat, fibre, protein and carbs content of your recipes? I picked up your book in Costco but was disappointed that it did not have this so I could determine the points especially of your smoothies and granola bars as I am also trying to increase my hemp hearts intake. I was very happy you did that content for the Super Seed Chocolate Protein Bites as they are excellent and I have one every day!
Good luck with the baby, I am a nurse and Lactation Consultant and my best advice to you is to surrender to the baby and to have your relatives and husband mother you, so you can mother the baby! I have given this advice to many new moms who were trying to do it “all”, and they told me after they really appreciated being given “permission” to just revel in the joy and exhaustion of motherhood. Hope it works for you, but you seem to instinctively know what to do from what I am reading of your blog!
many warm regards
Debbie
Today is definitely an Oh She Glows day in my kitchen. This is the third recipe that I’ve made and as I’m writing this, I am having a third piece of this goodness.
After I started making those bars, I realized that I only have about half a cup of almond flour so I added some coconut flour. I also ran out of chocolate chips, which I didn’t miss at all since I satisfied my chocolate craving with the double layer chocolate brownies earlier on.
I didn’t get the crispy edges, I wonder if I should have left the bars in the oven a bit longer or it was the coconut flower. Either way they are delicious.
Hi! Should they see a bit soft in the middle when you take them out of the oven? I left them in a few more minutes because I was worried they weren’t done but then didn’t want them to burn so I took them out. I don’t bake often so I wasn’t sure.
Oh, yum! And this recipe looks really simple; usually when I find gluten free dessert recipes they have a lot of ‘exotic’ ingredients, but I think I have all of these ingredients in my kitchen already, expect for maybe the coconut sugar, which I’ve seen in Trader Joe’s, my favorite store!