Cardamom Laced Blueberry Oat Bars
These bar cookies are a delicious and healthy snack to take “on the go”. The bars have a hint of sweet aromatic cardamom, which matches beautifully with berries. They are simple to make as they require no mixer and use the seasons beautiful berries. You can substitute any type of berry you like and get creative with different jams.
Serves: 16, 2” x 2” bars
1 stick + 3 tablespoons butter
1 ¼ cup walnuts
1 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons Kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 heaping cup berry preserves
1 ½ cups blueberries
¾ teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon lemon zest, chopped
½ teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9 x 13 baking tray and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, and set aside to cool. Spread the walnuts on another baking sheet and toast until lightly golden and fragrant, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Roughly chop into medium sized chunks. In a medium bowl, combine blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, zest, and lemon juice. In a large bowl combine nuts flour, oats sugars, salt, baking soda, and cardamom, Add in melted butter and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.
Spread 3 cups of flour mixture in the pan and gently press down to form a packed layer. Spread preserves over the crumb mixture. Now add the blueberry mixture and spread evenly. Evenly sprinkle the remaining dough over the blueberries. Bake for approximately 1 hour until top is golden brown. Cool and cut into squares.
