Spring is creeping in slowly and there is no better time of the year to get up early and take a jog or ride your bike. The mornings are getting warmer and the sun is rising earlier so there’s no use fighting that one ray that peeks through your blinds every morning and straight into your eye. Get out and enjoy the sun! To keep up your energy, you’ll need a healthy, nutrient-packed breakfast on-the-go. I’ve got just the ticket! Heavily inspired by my daily breakfast, Peanut Butter & Jelly Oatmeal, here’s a great way to help keep you moving!
Print
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, or to taste
3/4t cinnamon
1/4t baking soda
1/8t salt
4T butter, softened (I used Smart Balance)
2T creamy natural peanut butter
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups apricot jelly (Trader Joe’s brand)
Update: I’ve removed the 1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs) from the recipe, I think they contribute to a dryness and “yempt” texture. So this recipe is technically untested, please let me know if you try it and how it comes out or if you have any recommendations/suggestions! Thanks!
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Whisk in the peanut butter, applesauce and egg. Mix the remaining ingredients (oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon) in a medium bowl. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
2. Spray an 8×8 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Press about 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom, forming an even layer and spread a layer of jelly on top. Crumble remaining oat mixture on top and press down lightly.
3. Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Let cool completely and cut into 9 bars.
Additional Info:
Strawberry usually trumps every other flavor of jelly for me, but in this case, the apricot was hands down the better of the two. The strawberry type looks a little better in the pictures because of the contrast but don’t be fooled!
Related Entries
Email This
Wow! These look amazing! How come we didn’t make these when you were home? You’re so “SMART”!!! Congratulations again.
yum! i love anything with apricot. i’m filing this to my “to make” file.
apricot over strawberry? say it ain’t so!!!
heck, who am i kidding? i won’t play favorites and just take two of each. :)
These looks great! I can’t wait to go for a bike ride when it warms up a little!
Dude! Those bars sound delicious. It’s an unfortunate fact that oatmeal is often less than gorgeous in its close-ups, but I think I’m going to enter your bar recipe into my rotation of afternoon snacks. I’ll report back with an update!
Were you blog-spammed by some person trying to sell MP3 players? Why do people keep trying to use the comments section of my blog as a place to sell stuff? I think this is unacceptable!
I agree with you that strawberry is the best, but I know someone that is an even bigger peanut butter lover than myself (shocker, i know) that absolutely swears by the classic grape jelly. Though really it seems that any flavor would work with these bars!
Rosie, yea oats aren’t necessarily the prettiest thing. By the way, I just changed the recipe a bit because I got some feedback that it wasn’t enough of the crumble, so I upped it by about 50% and modified things slightly. And no, I have not gotten any MP3-player-selling spammers but I sure hope you’re not contagious! Let me know how you like them if you make em!
Kristina, a bigger peanut butter fan than you? bigger than me even? I doubt that’s possible but stranger things have happened. I never think to buy grape jelly, but it sure is a classic. I bet these bars would be great with grape. Oh, I also had a realization (revelation?) in class that they would probably be incredible with raspberry as well.
Thanks for sending me a friend request on Foodbuzz! I’m glad I read your blog because I love peanut butter as well. Did you know most Irish citizens hate peanut butter? I learned that the hard way when I studied in Ireland haha
Those look and sound really good! You can make them different every time just by changing the jelly.
Wow, I did not know that about Ireland. That is rough….I studied abroad in Spain and they rarely use peanut butter there but I was always able to find it (more like horde it in a stash in case of emergencies). And to think I’m mostly Irish….I guess my dreams of living in Ireland for a few years to get the accent are now impossible, unless I pack 2 suitcases full of peanut butter. But even then, I don’t think it’d be enough.
I did one of my first blog posts about it – http://chocolatemoosey.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-can-you-hate-peanut-butter.html
They have peanut butter, but it tastes more like grounded-up peanuts rather than peanut butter. I was ok with it, but if you are very picky like my one housemate, then you may want to pack several jars of your favorite peanut butter. Whenever her mom visited us, she had her bring several jars of Jif lol
do you know what the nutritional info is on these??