As promised, I present to you the recipe for these amazing little apple butter oat bars I made in my frazzled cooking bender yesterday.

It sounds like I’m not the only one around here that is craving the flavors of fall already. I’m desperately longing for pumpkin butter, warm applesauce, baked apples, kabocha squash, hot cider, and all the other delicious foods we only get to eat around the winter holidays.

I made these same bars last week in another cooking frenzy but with strawberry jam and almonds instead. They were definitely yummy, but I’m just so over all the bouncy summer berries and very ready to break into the firmer fall fruits. Biting into one of these made me feel like I was wearing a fuzzy sweater and snowed in on the couch with a big warm blanket and a cup of hot tea.

Apple butter oat bars

This quick and simple dessert or snack is not too sweet and features the warm flavors of cinnamon and apples.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Yield: 16 bars

Ingredients

• 1 stick of butter (room temp.)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup apple butter

Cooking Directions

1. Cream together butter and sugars in a mixer.
2. Add egg and mix to combine.
3. Whisk together flours, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a separate mixing bowl.
4. Add dry mix to wet in three parts, mixing gently between each addition.
5. Fold in oats by hand and divide mixture into two equal parts
6. Press half the dough into a buttered and floured 9x9 baking pan and top with the apple butter.
7. Pinch off small pieces of the remaining dough and dot all over the top making sure to get all the way around the edges.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes.
9. Let cool in pan, turn out onto a cutting surface, and cut into bars.

These aren’t too heavy on the butter and sugar either. It wouldn’t be naughty for you to pop one or two for breakfast, with a rich cup of coffee or herbal tea. Just enough sweetness for a morning pastry.

I intended on sending half of these to work with Jeff to keep me from eating all of them, but I don’t think I can part with them!

What foods do you most closely associate with fall?

August 25, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 19 comments

I was a little nervous to buy this Odwalla bar because I’ve had one of their bars before that I was not a fan of. This one though was from their line of “chewy nut bars” that I hadn’t heard of, so I figured I could give Odwalla one more shot.

I will however, continue to be totally creeped out by Odwalla’s weird bird mascot. He looks like a soulless man-eating daggar-beaked pterodactyl sent straight from hell to poke my eyes out.  Seriously, look at how recklessly he rides that bike downhill with those face protrusions pointed straight toward certain calamity! Think of the children! 😉

I couldn’t get a good shot of the ingredients or nutritional information because the font was white on an orange background, very hard to read.

It has 220 calories, perfect for a satisfying snack. Only 8 grams of sugar in this one which is fantastic. I’m pretty happy with the size of this bar too, it really fills up every inch of the packaging it comes in so you know exactly what you’re getting.

Appearance: As you can see, there are tons of whole oats and large pieces of almond all glued together with a shiny golden lacquer.

Texture: You’d think it would be crunchy with the candy-like coating and huge almond pieces, but it is actually chewy as advertised. It’s flexible and bendy and not too sticky in your hand.

Taste: If I had to describe this flavor in one word I would choose “golden.” It has a buttery, honeyed, freshly baked sweet dinner roll kind of flavor. It reminds me a lot of caramel popcorn with it’s balance of sweet and salty. The almonds are roasted and flavorful and taste like those hot candied almonds you can buy at fairs. Incredible.

Overall, I am so impressed with this bar. It tastes pretty sinful for being full of such wholesome ingredients. This is one I’m sure I’ll buy again, especially since Odwalla bars are very affordable.

Do you prefer chewy or crunchy bars?

July 27, 2011 Alayna Discussion 6 comments

Here’s one I don’t allow myself to indulge in too often: Pro Bars. These are one of the more expensive bars on the shelf, but they’re so hard to pass up with all the gorgeous fruit mosaic labelings and truly unique flavors.

I chose this one specifically because I had no idea what it was. Most of the flavors are very descriptive, but this Art’s Original Blend was a mystery to me. From the ingredient list I at least knew that I was in for peanut butter and chocolate chips, and really what more could I ask for? 😉

There are 19 grams of sugar and that’s more than I like, but at least it’s not full of corn syrup or anything gross like that. The 10 grams of protein is a nice touch.

At 370 calories, I really feel like this is more of a meal replacement bar than a snack. I love that Pro Bar is honest about that too. It says right on the front that it’s a “whole food meal bar,” that tells me right away that this is a meal in and of itself.

I couldn’t be happier with that ingredient list. It’s rather long, but most everything in it is real food, much of it in a raw state.

Appearance: It’s a bit smaller than anticipated, and with a $3.49 price tag that can be a little upsetting. It kinda feels like I’m being tricked with the rectangular packaging making the bar appear wider than it is. But inside, everything is as it seems in this bar. Whole nuts, seeds, and dried fruits are held together with what looks like a peanut butter glue.

Texture: It has a great soft and chewy texture, and even though all the ingredients are whole in this bar, it isn’t a chore to chew through. Bites flake off in big chunks, but it isn’t so crumbly as to be messy. The big chocolate chips have a wonderfully soft texture, not chalky or hard.

Taste: It’s hard to explain, but you can actually taste each individual ingredient. If I think about the papaya, I can taste the papaya. If I try to taste the sesame seeds, they come rushing to the foreground. If I’m not thinking about it, it tastes mostly like a mixture of brown rice syrup and peanut butter, studded all over with fat chocolate chips and juicy sweet raisins. The chocolate chips have an incredible flavor too, almost fruity like raspberry or blackberry.

Overall, I absolutely loved this bar. The flavor is incredible and the ingredients are so wholesome. With it’s higher price and calorie content though, it’s definitely one that I would reserve for those random occasions that I miss a meal and need a healthy snack to fill me up for hours.

Do you ever use snacks like this when you know you’re going to miss a mealtime?

July 21, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments