Say Hello! to these Blueberry Snack Bars, a snack so yummy you’ll be doing the Blueberry dance all day! Bursting with fresh Blueberries and healthy oatmeal, these brilliant breakfast bars are healthy snacking at its finest. Filling and satisfying, buckle up and get ready for a wild ride, because these Blueberry Snack Bars are about to take you on an awesome flavor journey. Let’s get baking!
Fresh Blueberry Snack Bars
There are two things I love about these Blueberry snack bars, almost in equal measure I think. First, they’re just so crazily simple to make. One bowl (yay!), just a handful of healthy ingredients and then let the oven do the work.
Second, the kids can help out with these and actually, as they’re getting bigger, pretty much make them alone with only some oven supervision. And we all know if the kids are involved in the baking process you’ve got a much higher chance they’ll be happily eating them afterwards!
I make these often for lunchboxes.
This recipe makes about 12 bars depending on how big you cut them, and the kids take them to school for their mid morning break. They fill the gap between breakfast and lunchtime nicely and stop little tummies rumbling!
More Healthy Snack Bars
- Peanut butter and choc chip snack bars
- Superfood energy bars for kids
- Raspberry oatmeal snack bars
- Chewy granola bar bites
- Healthy no bake Lamington bars
- Awesomely healthy flapjacks for kids
What’s So Good About Blueberry Bars?
There’s not a lot not to love about these little snack bars. There’s nothing in them you’d rather there wasn’t, they last well and the kids happily snack away on them.
While I’ve made them with Blueberries I’ve also listed some other fruits you can use below if they’re easier to get hold of where you are, and they’re so versatile you can switch it up where you like.
One thing: Make sure to keep a few back for your afternoon snack before the kids come home from school. I can confirm they’re perfect with a cup of tea in a quiet house before they all come bounding off the school bus and crashing through the front door!
Blueberry Bar Ingredients
When you’re trying your hardest to eat Clean you need snacks that fall into line, right? You do :)
These Blueberry bars are just perfect on all fronts. They’re healthy, kid friendly and full of goodness. Oats are a great ‘filler’ for kids, they keep them going for hours and teamed with juicy, fresh Blueberries, these bars are a long-time family favorite.
Blueberries
Fresh Blueberries, in season, are one of the juiciest, plumpest and sweetest fruits in town. We love them. Not only are they moorish and hard to stop eating, but they can be added easily to baking, adding not only their delicious kid friendly flavor but some sweetness. And that’s always good.
When you use fresh Blueberries in baking they hold their shape well, and since they’re fresh they don’t release much moisture. It’s for this reason I don’t use frozen Blueberries in this recipe (although they’re amazing for a lot of other things!) as they release too much water when they’re baked.
If you can get your Blueberries when they’re in season where you live they’re pretty cheap, and if you have a garden and a Blueberry bush, even better. Free, (likely!) organic blueberries at your fingertips. Lucky you :)
Oatmeal
I use oatmeal a lot in baking, specifically snacks, because it’s a great source of fairly cheap protein, and that’s before you get to the pretty long list of other benefits including B1, B2, and B6, iron, magnesium, and zinc.
The oats I buy are the steel-cut ones, they’re the least processed you can buy and retain their shape well without turning to porridge when they’re cooked. Whatever oatmeal you can get hold of will work for this, but I’d suggest not using the instant ones, they often have added ingredients (often chemical favorings sugars!) as they’re marketed as a quick breakfast. Plus they’re much more expensive to buy!
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup and honey are my go to sweeteners. They’re both unrefined sugars, they both work brilliantly in baking and I use them frequently.
You need to look for 100% pure maple syrup as there are a few in the stores I’ve seen that are just sugar syrups that are Maple syrup flavored. Avoid these, they’re mostly corn syrups and best avoided at all costs!
I’ve used Maple syrup in this recipe, but feel free to use honey instead if you prefer. The Blueberries I have right now are huge, juicy and super sweet. If yours are not as sweet, consider using honey as it can be a little sweeter in baking.
Bananas
Overripe super-sweet bananas. They’re awesome in so many ways. I use them in baking as a binder and a replacement for fats, they’re so kid friendly and work brilliantly in a whole heap of recipes.
Buy extra bananas when you’re shopping and allow them to become slightly brown and spotted. The riper they are, the sweeter they are. And if you buy too many and don’t have time to get baking with them, peel them, shop them up, pop them in a Ziploc bag and freeze them.
You’ll be pleased you did as you can then make this Clean eating ice cream!
Blueberry Bar Substitutions & Additions
I’ve obviously used Blueberries in this recipe, firstly because the kids love love love them, secondly because they’re super good for them and lastly (but not least!) they’re in season right now and we have Blueberry bush!
However, you can make this recipe with all sorts of berries to switch it up and use what’s available to you. You can use: Raspberries, Blackberries or Strawberries, chopped up if they’re quite large, and you’ll get the same deliciously sweet snack bars.
And as I mentioned above you can use honey instead of Maple syrup (quantities the same).
Storing Your Breakfast Bars
These snack bars store like a dream, so if you have a few less kids than I do and things last slightly longer than they do for me, you can keep these in an airtight container.
You don’t really need anything fancy to keep them in, I use an airtight tub like this one and they’ll keep for up to a week.
You can freeze these Blueberry bars, but they’re better baked and eaten fresh. If you need to freeze them, put them in a Ziploc bag and they’ll keep in the freezer for up to a month.
How To Make Blueberry Snack Bars
Ingredients
- 1½ Cups Fresh Blueberries
- 3 Cups Oatmeal I used steel cut oats
- ½ Cup Butter Melted, unsalted
- 2 Medium Bananas Very ripe, peeled
- ¼ Cup Maple syrup (or honey) 100% pure,
- 1 tsp Cinnamon Optional
- Pumpkin seeds To sprinkle on top, optional
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 180c or 350f and line a square tin with parchment paper
- In a large mixing bowl use a fork to mash the bananas getting out as many lumps as you can, they don’t have to be super smooth (don’t use a blender), just get them as smooth as you can
- Add in your Maple syrup and melted butter and combine well to create your we mixture
- Add the oats in and combine and then mix the blueberries into the mixture
- Spoon the mixture into your lined tin and use the back of a metal spoon to smooth the top
- Bake for 25 minutes until golden and then remove from the oven. Allow the bars to cool fully in the tin before removing
- Once fully cooled, remove the bake, and slice into bars
Blueberry Snack Bar Recipe
Brilliant Blueberry Snack Bars
Ingredients
- 1½ Cups Fresh Blueberries
- 3 Cups Oatmeal I used steel cut oats
- ½ Cup Butter Melted, unsalted
- 2 Medium Bananas Very ripe, peeled
- ¼ Cup Maple syrup (or honey) 100% pure,
- 1 tsp Cinnamon Optional
- Pumpklin seeds To sprinkle on top, optional
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 180c or 350f and line a square tin with parchment paper
- In a large mixing bowl use a fork to mash the bananas getting out as many lumps as you can, they don't have to be super smooth (don't use a blender), just get them as smooth as you can
- Add in your Maple syrup and melted butter and combine well to create your we mixture
- Add the oats in and combine and then mix the blueberries into the mixture
- Spoon the mixture into your lined tin and use the back of a metal spoon to smooth the top
- Bake for 25 minutes until golden and then remove from the oven. Allow the bars to cool fully in the tin before removing
- Once fully cooled, remove the bake, and slice into bars
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