Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Apple Oats Bars

These are fat free,and gluten free bars or rather soft bars made using oats and apples.Oats are completely heart healthy are are known for their cholestrol lowering properties and are nutritious.This dish is similar to baked oatmeal and has apples and dryfruits like dates,craisins and apricots to make it more healthy.I found this dish here but made it with changes.The dish is completely fat free,and gluten free.


Ingredients:
Uncooked oldfashioned oats: 2 cups
Dates: 1/2 cup
Other Dryfruits: 1/2 cup
Cinnamon: 2 pinches
Apples: 2 grated
Low Fat Milk/Soy milk: 1 cup+


Preparation:

Pit and chop dates into small pieces.Also if using other dry fruits chop them into smaller pieces. You can use any choice of dry fruits or a combo.I used craisins,apricots and dates.Peel,core and grate apples.I also cooked them in the microwave for about 1 minute (to obtain applesauce) just to make sure that they acted as binders.This is completely optional as they will be cooked while baking.

Mix together half of dryfruits+dates and 1 cup of oats with the grated (and cooked)apples.Combine well and then spread in an 8" baking dish as a single layer.Pour milk into this mix such that the oats-date layer is completely soaked .Start with 1/2 cup milk and make sure that the oats layer is not floating in milk.It took 1 cup for me.Top this soaked layer with rest of oats and dates and dryfruits.You can add milk in this layer as well.But then it will be completely soaked and the bar will come out gooey.I did not add any milk.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes.Slice into squares and serve.The top layer looks as if oats is sprinkled on top.Actually it is cooked soft oat whereas the bottom layer looks ooeey gooey.

This is actually similar to baked oatmeal.We are making it more healthy with additions.The wonderful thing is it does not contain any type of flour and added sugar.The sweetness is provided by the apple and dryfruits.This dish can be served as a filling breakfast dish or after dinner dessert.It can be refrigerated and is even better the next day when the flavours blend.Since it contains milk,it is better to refrigerate and if possible cut into slices and store in a single layer.

This is definitely heart healthy and filling but without any additional calories and is on the way to Heart of the Matter where the theme is Slimmer recipes.

22 Comments:

Anonymous said...

definitely a healthy treat..would like to try..

jayasree said...

Wow, those sure are healthy bars. no flour,no fat, no sweet what more can i ask for? Bookmarked.

Unknown said...

looks neat and perfect..healthy one..

suvi said...

nice healthy treat!

Sunshinemom said...

Tasty bars and healthy ones! Do these slice well? I have made a similar that broke into crumbs each time I cut! I am not able to post now as my phone at home is 'dead', and am happily surfing from office as it is a lean day at work! I was inspired to make vella pori topped with chocolate from C&TCF, but stopped with the pori itself as no one would hear of doing anything further to it:)

Priya Suresh said...

Looks great n healthy bars, prefect for breakfast...

Chitra said...

Really a healthy treat.Will bookmark this and try!!

Finla said...

Superbe. It is so healthy but delciious too.

Mangala Bhat said...

Hey ...thanks for healthy treat .pic looks perfect .

Usha said...

Wow loved this healthy and delicious looking treat...have starred it so that I can try this soon :-)

Trupti said...

looks very delicious & healthy too

Cham said...

U got a lovely slice of this goodness!

anudivya said...

I used to make a similar recipe few years back and then had it almost everyday (we liked it a lot) and then ended up not making it after that (due to boredom).
You reminded me of my oats bars and tempted me enough to make them again.

Chris said...

I could eat this every morning for breakfast! Do you think I could make this using just a microwave? That would make my breakfasts infinitely more interesting, not to mention nutritious :)

Raaga said...

they look so pretty

Ilva said...

Great with a sweet and slimmer recipe with the HotM -Thanks!

Joie de vivre said...

These would make such a healthy and yummy snack for my little ones!

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

such an easy and simple recipe. would love to try this.

Rajee said...

Very simple but good picture. Very healthy. Can I have one?

PG said...

These look fantastic! I had been wanting to make some I remember, last year, but somehow never cam to doing it. But, you are tempting me now. These are such good snack for inbetween for the kids and adults alike, isn't it?.
Though I must mention that even though it is a controversial thing, but the majority condsider oats as not gluten free.
I just found one link here, just for your info.

Noor said...

Ah man I wish I would have saw this the other night. I was looking all over for a recipe just like this. I wanted to make a healthy snack for my toddler, I will try this soon. Thanks, great blog.

Madhu's cooking gallery said...

that is a healthy one! looks perfect!

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