The grocery store was having a mega sale on strawberries, so naturally, I purchased way too many. We definitely eat a lot of fruit around this house, but not enough to go through the amount of strawberries I bought. I am always trying to think about different breakfast items for the girls to eat, as they seem to be obsessed with all things carbs. We make so many muffins around here, that I wanted to do something a little different. So, on a sleepless night, I decided upon some breakfast bars that would use up these beautiful strawberries.
A little brown sugar (okay, maybe a good bit), some oats and some fresh berries! I came across the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, who I honestly go to a lot for inspiration. They made a version using raspberries, but the great thing is you could use whatever fruit is in season. I also adapted so that it used gluten free flour and oats. By the way, I am so thankful for some gluten free oats!
These are definitely crumbly, and I love the fact that it tastes like dessert but you can also eat for breakfast. I’m not going to lie.. they would have been amazing with a scoop of ice cream, but at nine in the morning, that seemed inappropriate.
Ingredients
CRUST
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
1 cup brown sugar (I prefer dark for this)
1 1/2 cups gluten free oats
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, cut in cubes
FILLING
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups strawberries
1/4 cup lemon juice
Directions
For the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper (important for lifting these bars out of your pan). In a food processor, combine all ingredients except the butter. Pulse a few times to combine all ingredients. Add in cubes of butter and pulse until the mix becomes nice and crumbly.
Reserve about half of the crumb mixture to put on top.
Spread the remaining crumb mixture into your pan and bake for 15 minutes until it has a nice brown color. Remove and let cool while you make the filling.
Mix your flour, sugar, zest, and cinnamon in a bowl. Chop up your strawberries into quarters and add in your bowl. Add in your lemon juice and mix together until the strawberries are coated.
Pour this mixture over your cooled crust. Spread out evenly and then take the remaining crumb mixture and pour over your strawberries. Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before trying to remove them from the pan.
Once cool, lift the parchment paper out of your pan and cut into bars!
a goose and a gangster 