Strawberries ‘n Cream Oatmeal Bars – These sweet, fruity, and buttery bars make a delicious after-dinner treat and are the perfect way to use up your leftover strawberry jam from last season.
Last June I was a little overzealous when it came to making Strawberry Jam. What can I say? I was strawberry picking and I went a little nuts when I saw that field of juicy, fresh, bright-red berries. Since my family couldn’t possibly eat through them all, and I have very limited freezer space, the only sensible thing to do was to make lots and lots of jam. As a result, I ended up with an entire pantry shelf stacked high with jam jars – so many that I didn’t even bother counting. Despite gifting my jam at Christmas and making my little one an unlimited supply of PB&J and toast with jam, I still have a handful of jars to use up until strawberries come back in season again.
Because of my strawberry jam excess, I started making these Strawberries ‘n Cream Oatmeal Bars. They have since become a favorite of my husband’s. They are sweet, buttery, and fruity, topped with the creaminess of white chocolate. Perfect for enjoying with a cup of tea.
The best thing about theses bars is that they come together so easily. The dough is pretty basic, and then it just takes a layer of strawberry jam and a sprinkling of almonds and white chocolate.
Enjoy warm and soft, but they’re still good and gooey even after they’ve cooled!
- ¾ C (1½ sticks) softened salted butter
- ¾ C packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 C white flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1¼ C rolled oats
- 1 C strawberry jam
- ¼ C mini white chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and the vanilla in a large mixing bowl. In a small mixing bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Intermittently add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar while using an electric mixer until evenly combined. Next mix in the oats with the mixer on the low setting, taking care not to break the oats up too much.
- Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper and then, using your fingers, evenly spread the dough out along the bottom of the pan. Next, add a layer of strawberry jam and then sprinkle with almonds. Cook in a 350º F oven for 34-37 minutes, or until the edges of the bars are golden brown and the jam is bubbling.
- After removing the bars from the oven, immediately sprinkle with white chocolate chips and allow the bars to cool for 30 minutes. Once cooled, but still warm, pick the bars up out of the pan using the parchment paper and cut into 12 bars. Serve warm or allow to cool completely.
They look delicious. Probably better than granola bars, thanks for the idea
These are totally better than granola bars, but perhaps a little less healthy. 😉
So simple and so perfect! I overdo it with jam making almost every year as well. 3 years ago there were so many plums everywhere I made about 20 jars of some kind of spicy German plum butter, I still have 2 or 3 left…. Plus several other sorts I made last summer. So this recipe comes in handy, I will definitely give it a try.
Jam making is my favorite kind of canning… I think because it tastes so sweet. It’s really easy to over do it! German plum butter… now that sounds good!
My favorite oatmeal topping is strawberries! Certainly gonna try these bars, except with store bought strawberry jam 🙁
Don’t sweat it Maria. I’ve made these bars with homemade and store bought jam and they were both DELICIOUS!
I made the about a week ago, and they were so simple and so yummy, I’ve decided to add these to the “menu” for the treat baskets I give to neighbors and friends for Christmas. BTW, I didn’t have any strawberry jam so I used raspberry. Thanks for a great, quick recipe!