Raspberry Breakfast Bars

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 eats, or tries to, on $6/day.

Thursday a friend showed up at my door with a bucket of raspberries. Hopefully you're lucky enough to have such a friend.

I wasn't sure the raspberries would make it into any prepared foods. Too many were ending up on children's faces (I trust that at least some of that fruit even made it all the way into their bellies). That night I stashed a couple cups in the freezer. And then I found a raspberry breakfast bar on smittenkitchen that looked so good I wanted it then--right then. If I'd had a genie nearby I would have skipped my wishes for millions of dollars and world domination and totally wasted my wishing on breakfast. I guess I'm that kind of person. Unfortunately, I had no genie available, so I made it happen myself today.

The bar was somewhat nutritious (you know that category, right), but I wanted to make it whole grain. That was the main change I made. I almost scaled back the sugar, but then thought better of it, which turned out to be a good thing. I do, wish, however, that I'd scaled back the salt somewhat as I found these bars a tinge on the too salty side. To my own surprise, I also wish I'd cut the lemon zest back. I love lemon and I think it's a great compliment to raspberries, but in this case, I thought it stood too strong against the raspberries. Below I'll put the measurements for what was as well as for what will be the next time I make these. Because there will be a next time. 

Raspberry Breakfast Bars

adapted from smitten kitchen

Makes 9x13 inch pan or about 32 bars

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Cost: $1.72 plus cost of raspberries--let's say $5.00 total

(flour: .30, oats: .12, sugar: .35, butter: .45, lemon: .50, raspberries--get them from a friend:) because they'll cost you otherwise--probably $3-4)

Crust/Topping:

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 C brown sugar (I used light; smitten kitchen did dark)

1 1/4 C rolled oats

3/4 tsp salt (I recommend 1/4-1/2 tsp)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (if you use salted, omit the salt above), cut into pieces

For the raspberry filling:

1/4 C white sugar (if your raspberries are tart at all, take this up to 6 Tbsp)

1 Tbsp lemon zest (I recommend 1/2 Tbsp)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp white flour

1 pound (about 4 C) raspberries

1/4 C lemon juice

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted but not still hot

Directions:


Grease a 9x13 inch pan and put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom so that it drapes over the short ends of the pan (this makes it easy to take your bars out--you can get away with not doing it if you don't have parchment paper).

For crust/top:

Combine dry ingredients in food processor and give a pulse or two to combine. Add butter chunks and pulse until it's a crumb-like texture. (You can do this by hand with a pastry cutter or just by repeatedly mashing with your fingertips or a fork if you don't have a food processor.)

Reserve 1 1/2 C in a separate bowl to use later for topping. Put the rest in pan and press it in with your fingertips. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool (at least until you can touch the sides of the pan with your fingers).

For the Filling:

Whisk together sugar, zest, cinnamon, and flour. Add raspberries and lemon juice, and melted butter (you probably could get away with skipping that butter if you're trying to healthify this more). Gently toss.

To finish:

Put your raspberry mixture evenly over your crust. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 C crumb mixture over top.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden and the raspberry part is bubbling or at least making a show of looking jam-like.

Allow to cool before cutting.

PRINTABLE RECIPE