Prep time: Easy
Source: HappyHealthyMama.com, via Pinterest
After hearing lots of people talk about intense postpartum hunger, I'm trying to get some healthy, filling snacks in my freezer for after the baby comes, so that I have something quick and easy to grab when hunger strikes (especially in those early days of breastfeeding, when I imagine my hands will be pretty tied!). Yesterday I was scouring through old Pinterest pins looking for recipes that might work, and I hit on this one. I wasn't really sure how the apple, peanut butter, and honey would go together, since they're all strong flavors, but after making them this afternoon I couldn't stop myself from eating two straight out of the pan! I'll definitely be keeping this recipe around. Best of all, between the oats and the peanut butter, these little bars are very satisfying! (A note—although they look a little like granola bars in the pictures, don't be fooled; they're much more like a soft, moist breakfast bar.)
I 1 1/2-sized the original recipe so that it would fit in a 9x13" pan.
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups grated apple (I used all of a medium-sized apple and it was perfect)
1/4 cup + 2 T peanut butter
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
3/4 t cinnamon
3/4 t vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and set aside. In large bowl, mix together grated apple and oats until thoroughly blended (make sure that the apple isn't clinging together in clumps, which it likes to do!). Add all other ingredients and mix thoroughly (mix will be very wet). Press into pan and use the back of your mixing spoon to smooth. Bake for 20 minutes (until the edges start to brown), and allow to cool thoroughly before cutting into bars.
To freeze these, I placed them on a plastic-lined cookie sheet after I'd cut them, put more plastic wrap on top, and flash-froze them for about 3-4 hours. Then I pulled them off and put them into a freezer ziploc bag. To eat them later, I plan to allow them to thaw at room temperature or pop them in the microwave for a minute to reheat.
Be careful about calling something with oats gluten free. Unless they are specifically packaged gluten free oats, like Bob's Red Mill brand---you will be serving something with gluten. The cross contamination on oats is high and it is not generally considered a gluten free product unless specifically labeled as such.
ReplyDeleteOh I know - mine aren't necessarily gluten-free, but the recipe itself would be gluten-free with GF oats.
Deletethis is a great recipe but not sugar free either. honey apple, all have a lot of sugar and will spike your insulin levels. So perhaps just say natural sugars :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharring this
ReplyDelete