Project Description

For breakfast or for dessert, these bars are the perfect balance of sweet & tart with a filling crisp topping loaded with hazelnuts, coconut and oats.

OVERVIEW

Love a good crisp bar? These are even better with nuts, seeds, coconut but still layered over a gooey fruit filling! They also happen to be gluten-free and vegan!!

They taste like dessert but are perfect for breakfast because they’re filling and complete with fiber, protein and fat!

You’ve probably had strawberry rhubarb but the next best thing is cherry rhubarb! The sweet cherries pair perfectly with tart rhubarb making for a balanced combination.

Also side note, did you know, rhubarb is actually a vegetable and is not related to celery even though it resembles it’s look? The leaves of the rhubarb plant are toxic to humans while the stalks are full of antioxidants and offer a great source of vitamin K. So eat plenty of rhubarb, just not the leaves!
With the combination of cherries, these bars actually super rich in antioxidants…nothing like a dessert that’s good for you too!
Let me know if you try this out and please take pictures as I love to see how it looks! Enjoy!!

Cherry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars

Full Recipe

  • MAKES: 12 bars
  • TOTAL TIME: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS

  • For the Filling:

  • 2 cups dark sweet pitted cherries, fresh or frozen

  • 2 cups diced rhubarb, fresh or frozen works

  • 1/4  cup coconut sugar or sweetener of choice

  • 2 tbs lemon juice

  • 1.5 tbs starch

  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

  • For the Topping:

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats

  • 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts, or your choice of nut or seed

  • 1/2 cup large flake unsweetened coconut

  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar, or your sweetener of choice

  • 1/4 cup oat flour, I make my own by blending in a blender

  • 1/3 cup coconut oil or butter, melted

  • For the Base

  • 1 1/2 cup rolled oats

  • 1/2 cup oat flour

  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar or sweetener of choice

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil or butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Combine cherries, rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice in a pot and bring to a low simmer for about 10 minutes or until more juice has started to collect in the pot from the cherries and rhubarb.

  • Pour out some of the juice into a small bowl and mix it with the starch to combine then return mix back to the pot with the fruit and stir all together over medium heat until it slightly thickens. Stir in vanilla extract then remove from heat and set aside.

  • Preheat the oven to 350F and line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper.

  • Combine all the base ingredients together in a bowl until it sticks together when you pinch it. Press the mix into the baking pan as even and firmly as you can to ensure it stays together. Place in oven while it preheats, for about 8 minutes, then remove from oven.

  • Add all the topping ingredients to the bowl and mix to combine until it’s crumbly, set aside.

  • Pour the cherry rhubarb mix over the base layer evenly then sprinkle the topping over evenly.

  • Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until top is slightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into them. Ideally, overnight…if you can wait that long!! You just don’t want them to fall apart.

    Enjoy!