Spreading Beauty Through Baking: Strawberry Oat Crumble Bars

I love to bake with seasonal produce.  Every time the season changes I start going through my cookbooks looking for recipes featuring that seasons produce and for spring that means rhubarb, strawberries and cherries. This weekend I walked into my local whole foods and instantly smelled sweet California strawberries, so a huge pallet came home with me.

This year I’m staring my springtime baking with these strawberry oat crumble bars. Don’t be intimidated by the long ingredient list and three components. The same ingredients are used multiple times and the components come together quickly with little effort. I love that they have some whole wheat flour in them giving them a nutty wholesome flavor and making me feel like I’m baking something not totally devoid of nutrition. These thick bars get a nice brightness from the last minute sprinkle of lemon zest and are delicious with some coffee or tea.

One of my favorite springtime kitchen tools is the strawberry huller. It makes quick work of hulling the strawberries and minimizes waste. 

One note about the recipe is that you can choose to bake these in a 9 by13inch pan instead of the recommended 8inch square pan. This will make the bars a little less gooey but just as yummy! 

Strawberry Oat Crumble Bars
Adapted from The Home Cook by Alex Guarnaschelli Amazon link

Base
1/2 lb + 2 Tbs unsalted butter
1/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 c flour
3/4 c whole-wheat flour
2/3 c cornstarch

Grease an 8 in square cake pan.
Beat the butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy like frosting, about 10 min
Stir in the flours and salt
Press into cake pan
Refrigerate 30 min (make the oat crumb)
Preheat oven 375 degrees
Bake  until golden brown about 25-30 min (make the filling)

Oat Crumb- make while base is in the fridge
1c + 2 Tbs oats
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c brown sugar
1 Tbs honey
1 tsp salt
6 Tbs butter cut into cubes

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, honey and salt. With your fingers work in the butter until mixture resemble course crumbs. Refrigerate 25 min

Filling- make while base is cooking
5 c hulled and halved (or quartered if lrg) strawberries
1 Tbs cornstarch
1/2 c sugar- taste your strawberries! (Mine were quite sweet so I didn’t use as much sugar)
1/2 c raspberry jam

Mix together cornstarch and sugar, then mix with the strawberries. Stir in the jam.
As soon as the base is done baking spread the filling over the base and sprinkle oat crumb on top. Return to the oven and bake 40-45 min until crumb is brown and filling is bubbling. Remove from oven and immediately cut into 16 pieces. Allow to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled recut being sure to go all the way through the crust. Sprinkle a thin layer of lemon zest over the bars. Remove squares from the pan and enjoy with coffee or tea, of course.

 Spreading Beauty Through Baking Series is brought to you by Lyndsay Weyers who works as a Pediatrician in North Carolina but has a passion for good food and delicious baked goods. She spends her free time with her husband (Dr. Weyers) traveling, exploring and eating exotic food and when at home enjoys organizing her ever expanding cookbook library and trying new things in the kitchen.