Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

I’ve never met a crumbly dessert I didn’t like. Crumble bars, apple crisp, peach crumble, berry cobbler..they’re all amazingly delicious. I initially intended for these bars to have more crumble and be more “desserty,” but they turned out to be more on the healthier side and completely acceptable for breakfast.

The abundance of summer berries makes me SO happy. I’m constantly putting them in salads, oatmeal, yogurt bowls, on toast, and just snacking on them too! As they start to go bad toward the end of the week, they’re perfect for making desserts like these!

For these I used a mixture of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. You can use strawberries too if you’d like, or whatever fruit you’re into at the moment! Cherries have been another favorite of mine.

I had a moment several years ago when I was obsessed with making allll sorts of crumble bars, pie bars, and the like. I’m pretty sure I made a batch at least once a week for awhile. It’s been SO long since I’ve made them, and these made me remember just how AMAZING they are. You can’t have just one.

I mean how could you?

The crust and crumble mixture is made from whole wheat flour, oats, egg, brown sugar, coconut oil, cinnamon, and vanilla. Such a simple dough but so wonderful with the sweet berries and touch of lemon. The berries themselves are sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar, so these bars are perfect for a healthier treat!

They’re also insanely good with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

But you probably knew that already!

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Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

These berry oatmeal crumble bars are the perfect healthy dessert, snack, or even breakfast! They're a wonderful way to use up leftover summer berries too!

Course Dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 9 bars

Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the crust/crumble mixture

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour (not regular whole wheat, this is a finer ground variety..can also sub all purpose)
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled

For the berries

• 2 1/2 cups berries (I used a mixture of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1 lemon)
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Spray a 8x8 glass baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and coconut oil until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until mixture turns into a dough. Press ⅔ of the mixture into the bottom of the pan to form the crust. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the berries, cornstarch, lemon juice, and maple syrup. Gently stir until mixture is completely combined. Pour berries and their juices over the crust. Smooth out with a spoon or spatula so they're evenly distributed.

5. Top with remaining crust/crumble mixture, crumbling it evenly over the berries.

6. Bake for 25-50 minutes or until crust is golden on the edges. Let cool completely before cutting! Unless you want to serve them warm with vanilla ice cream of course!