Cooking Recipes

Easy Cranberry Oatmeal Bars from my Healthy Eating One-Pot Cookbook are great for dessert or breakfast! Make them with whole grain oats and whole wheat flour, coconut oil, and maple syrup.  

When I think about all of the recipes in my new Healthy Eating One-Pot Cookbook, there are two that jump out as being my favorite: Instant Pot Red Curry Ramen and Cranberry Oatmeal Bars. Both of them were instant hits, and I’ve been making them all winter. Even though these recipes only have 10 ingredients each, they have complex, layered flavors that make them seem much more complicated than they actually are. 

When I asked people on facebook which recipe they’d like me to share, I wasn’t sure which recipe I was rooting for. It was a close call, but Cranberry Oatmeal Bars won by a super narrow margin. I’m sharing that recipe here today – if you want the ramen you’ll need to check out the book! 

I’m completely obsessed with these vegan cranberry bars. They’re sweetened with maple syrup and flavored with vanilla extract and a hint of cinnamon. The crumbly oat topping is buttery and sweet, which balances the tart berries perfectly. 

These bars are crisp straight from the oven but will soften overnight if kept in an airtight container. Either way, they’re fantastic. The recipe makes six big, bakery-style bars, but if you’re looking for a treat that’s lower in calories you can easily cut them into nine or even twelve portions and still be satisfied. 

Tips for making cranberry oatmeal bars:

The best way to make these oatmeal bars is with fresh cranberries, but frozen berries work too. I couldn’t find either variety last weekend, so I made this batch with sugar-free raspberry preserves. Raspberries are pretty tart, so they make a great stand-in for cranberries in this recipe. The bars will be thicker and more colorful if you use whole berries, but they taste great either way.

This is actually a swap that I suggest in the book. One of my favorite parts of the book is that every single recipe has a tip that will help you pick the best ingredients, make smart swaps, or repurpose your leftovers. The book has 101 recipes in it, but when you include the variations from the tips there are really so many more! 

I put these cranberry oatmeal bars in the dessert chapter of the book but, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be tempted to sneak one for breakfast!

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

I’m obsessed with these cranberry bars. The crumbly oat topping is buttery and sweet, which balances the tart berries perfectly. These bars are crisp straight from the oven, but will soften overnight if kept in an airtight container. Either way, they’re fantastic. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be tempted to sneak one for breakfast.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 cups fresh cranberries, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the coconut oil and maple syrup until smooth. Stir in the vanilla.
3. Gently mix in the oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda to form a crumbly dough. Press half the dough onto one side of a sheet pan, forming a layer about 1/2 inch thick.
4. Spread the chopped cranberries over the dough and sprinkle with the sugar.
5. Crumble the remaining dough over the berries. Sprinkle the top with the almonds.
6. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes until light golden brown.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Cut into 6 bars to serve.

Notes

If fresh cranberries aren’t in season, use frozen. Or, swap them for whole-fruit raspberry preserves and omit the sugar.

Nutrition Information: Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 373 Total Fat: 20g Saturated Fat: 16g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 4g Cholesterol: 0mg Carbohydrates: 46g Fiber: 5g Protein: 3g