Vegan and gluten free strawberry crumble bars with an oat base and streusel, lots of seasonal berries, and a little coconut sugar for sweetness.
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine Vegan
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 35 minutesminutes
Total Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 9bars
Ingredients
Oat base and crumble
2cupsrolled oatsground into a coarse flour*
1cuprolled oats
⅓cupcoconut sugar
⅓cupcoconut oilmelted
¼cupalmond butter
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
½teaspoonsalt
Strawberry filling
4cupsripe strawberries
2teaspoonsarrowroot powder**
Juice of half a lemon
1tablespoonmaple syrupoptional
Instructions
Oat base and crumble
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line a square (8x8 inch) baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the oat flour and oats, coconut sugar, and salt. Add the coconut oil, almond butter, and vanilla and stir until everything has been incorporated and it holds together when pressed. Reserve one cup of this mixture for the topping.
Evenly crumble the remaining oat mixture into the prepared baking pan, and press firmly with your hands to make the base. You can use a small rolling pin or wet hands to make an even layer.
Add the strawberry mixture and spread it over the base layer. Crumble the reserved one cup of oat mixture over the strawberry filling. Bake at 350F/180C for 35-40 minutes, or until golden.
Strawberry filling
Place the strawberries in a shallow bowl (you might have to do this in two batches) and mash them with a fork. It doesn't need to be perfectly smooth. Stir in the arrowroot, lemon juice, and maple syrup (if using). It will thicken as it bakes and turn into jam.
Notes
* You can substitute a scant 2 cups of store-bought oat flour for homemade. To make your own, blend the oats in a food processor for a minute or two until a flour forms. ** Cornstarch can be substituted for arrowroot if you can't find any. Arrowroot powder is my preference because it's not as heavily sprayed as corn.