Oats and Berry Bars

Several months ago my dear blogging friend Patricia (from Butter Yum) asked me if I wanted to participate in The Wooden Spoon Adventures. What are The Wooden Spoon Adventures, you might be wondering? Let me tell you all about it.

This very wooden spoon has been making its way around the world, cooking up delicious dishes in each kitchen it has visited. The spoon started out in all the way across the ocean in the UK with a blogger named Kate who writes the blog A Merrier Wold. She started The Wooden Spoon Adventure as a way to celebrate her blogs 5th anniversary. The spoon then traveled to Melindas Kitchen, The Evil Cake Lady, The Knitty Baker and then to my friend Patricia at Butter Yum. Patricia passed it along to me and  I will be passing the spoon along to Mari from Once Upon A Plate.

I have used this traveling spoon to make you all some very delightful Oats and Berry Bars. Sure wish you could sit right down and have one with me this very minute. These bars are VERY simple to make and use ingredients you most likely have on hand. Though the ingredient list is short, the bars are moist and flavorful. The oats give them a wonderful texture. I used homemade blueberry jam, but you could use whatever you have around. Hope you enjoy these, guys! Let’s me show you how to make them.

OATS AND BERRY BARS
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Time: 15 min. prep + 35 min. baking
Yield: One 9×13 pan, cut as small or large as you like
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes

1 C brown sugar
2 C flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 C rolled oats
1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C  jam (I used blueberry)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Into a medium-sized mixing bowl place 1 cup brown sugar, 2 cups  flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 cups rolled oats.

3. Add 1 cup soft butter.

Grab yourself a pastry blender and mix the butter into the dry ingredients. No pastry blender? Don’t worry about it, you can just use your fingers to blend the butter in.

You are looking for the mixture to resemble coarse crumbs.

4. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and pour 4 cups of the oat mixture into the pan.

5. Grab some delicious jam. I used this homemade blueberry jam (recipe and tutorail found here). Pour 1 1/2 cups of the jam into a microwave safe bowl and heat it up for about 30 seconds. Warming up the jam will make it much easier to spread.

6. Pour the jam onto the oats mixture and spread it out with a knife. Be sure to leave about a half-inch around the perimeter of the pan free from jam.

7. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the top of the of the jam.

8. Press it gently into the pan with a wooden spoon.
9. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Allow the pan to cool completely and then cut into bars.

Enjoy!