How do you know it’s going to be a fantastic spring?
Perhaps when strawberries this gorgeous go on sale for 99 cents a pound:
Yeah. It’s going to be a wonderful spring.
But I bought four pounds of strawberries with no plan for them in sight! I’m a planner. I don’t usually buy more than one or two things that deviate from my grocery list, and they’re usually snacks or sweets that I know I’ll munch away in a day or two.
So I had to get creative and figure out how to use up these berries!
I was inspired by a recipe I made last week from Chef AJ’s book Unprocessed – it was a frozen dessert with a crust and streusel topping that were both made mostly from dates and nuts.
Mmmm crumbly streusel topping sweetened with dates and with no added butter or oil? Okay.
serves 6
1 C rolled oats, divided
3/4 C pitted dates
1/2 C walnuts
1 T brown rice syrup, or any other liquid sweetener
2 C strawberries, sliced or chopped
1 t vanilla extract
1 T cornstarch
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, grind half of the oats and all of the walnuts until coarsely ground. Place the whole oats, ground oats, and walnuts in a large mixing bowl. Then grind the dates into a paste and add those and the brown rice syrup to the oat mixture. Stir until well combined. Take out 1/2 C of the mixture to save for the crumble topping. The rest will be the crust for our bars.
In a separate bowl, combine strawberries, vanilla, and cornstarch. Mix well.
Grease an 8×8 baking dish and line with parchment paper. Then spray the parchment with cooking spray – you want the parchment so you can take these out of the dish easily, but spraying it helps get the parchment off the crust. Press the oat mixture into the bottom of the dish. Spraying your hands with some cooking spray first helps you press this into the dish without it all sticking to your hands.
Then pour strawberries on top, and sprinkle the crumble topping over that.
Bake for about 40 minutes, until strawberry layer looks juicy and the crumble topping is browned.
They are crumbly, sticky, messy, and sooooo worth it! I don’t even have a humble way of saying this – I am so proud of these amazing bars, they are one of the best recipes I’ve made! You should try them immediately!
The strawberry filling turns into a kind of jam-ish pie-filling-ish concoction that is fantastic, and the crust and streusel have are crunchy and chewy and sweet. Perfect combination.
Oh. my. gosh.
I think I’ll probably have one for breakfast, too . . .
Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 210; Calories from Fat: 65; Total Fat: 7.3g; Saturated Fat: 0.5g; Sodium: 5mg; Total Carbohydrates: 34.5g; Dietary Fiber: 4.8g; Sugars: 18.9g; Protein: 5.2g
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