Treat your kids to these buttery, super comforting apple oat bars after the first day of school. They will love you for it (even more so than they already do! ). Vegan and gluten-free.
Do your kids come home from school absolutely ravenous? As if they hadn't eaten in days? I know mine does. When hanger strikes, I can't get food into his system fast enough! Growing teenage boy + 10:30 am lunch does not make a good combo, let me tell you...
Whenever possible, I try to go with healthy, homemade after school snacks, like:
- peanut butter energy bites,
- kale pizza hand pies,
- hummus with veggies
- or chocolate chip chickpea cookie dough bites.
On special occasions though, like the first day of school, I like to go with something a bit more decadent, like these apple oat bars.
They're almost like apple pie, but way easier to make! The dough is rich and buttery and comes together effortlessly. You can use regular all-purpose flour, or sub gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour. We recommend using refined coconut oil, but if you like the added coconut flavor, go with virgin, unrefined!
We chose ginger gold apples for these oat bars, since they're in season, they're firm, sweet and slightly tart, but you can use your favorite kind, or whatever you have on hand.
Enjoy!
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Apple Oat Bars
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
Description
Treat your kids to these buttery, super comforting apple oat bars after the first day of school. They will love you for it (even more so than they already do! ). Vegan and gluten-free.
Ingredients
For the apples:
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 4 medium apples (here we used ginger gold), peeled, cored and diced
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ½ tsp cinnamon
For the crust:
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ( you can also use gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour)
- 1 cup almond meal
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon (optional)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅔ cup coconut oil, at room temperature
Instructions
- Grease an 8x8 inch square baking dish (you can also line it with parchment paper)
- To prepare the apples, melt the coconut oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add the apples and brown sugar, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the lemon juice and cinnamon, and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes, until tender and caramelized. Set aside to cool slightly
- Preheat the oven to 375F
- To prepare the crust, combine the oats, flour, almond meal, brown sugar, cinnamon (if using) and salt in a medium bowl and mix well. Add the coconut oil and work it in, using your hands, to form a crumbly dough
- Reserve about ½ cup of dough, and press the remaining into the baking dish. Add the cooked apples, and crumble the reserved dough on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let it cool completely before cutting
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 238
- Sugar: 14.5
- Sodium: 40
- Fat: 12.8
- Saturated Fat: 8.5
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.8
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 27
- Fiber: 2.6
- Protein: 3.1
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: apple, bars, apple bars, vegan, oats, oat bars
Alene says
2 questions. Do you melt the coconut oil before using it? Do you think mackintosh apples are too soft for something like this? I recently bought a whole bag of them (they are my favorite) and would love to use up some before they spoil.
There's always applesauce for Chanukah, but I like a mix of apples for that.
Vicky & Ruth says
Hi Alene,
You don't have to melt the coconut oil for the dough. Just make sure to incorporate it well into the flour / oat mixture (your hands are the best tool to do this!). Mackintosh apple should work just fine here. Hope you enjoy them! 🙂
Paula Zevin says
Made this recipe and we love everything about it. I have one "problem" though: what if we don't have school-age kids/grandkids at home? That recipe is way too good to keep just for the kids! 😀
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
LOL, is for the kid in all of us!
Angeles says
Loved this recipe! It turned out great, so easy & tasty, with simple ingredients on hand... We found the bars tasted even better a couple days later when all the flavours melded together. Delicious! 2 thumbs up
Amy Brunswick says
I made these and ate them right after they cooled down a bit. They were only OK. After refrigerating them for the night, they are amazing! I would add this to the recipe as they improved so much.
★★★★★
Vicky and Ruth says
Thank you for the feedback, we will add that to the recipe.