Nut-free strawberry vanilla crumble bars. These delicious bars are gluten-free, sweetened with fruit and packed with fiber from dates, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and oats. They're perfect for a nutritious snack, dessert or even breakfast!
Course Dessert
Cuisine vegan, vegetarian
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Total Time 45 minutesminutes
Servings 9
Ingredients
Strawberry Vanilla Chia Jam
3cupsfrozen strawberries (or other berries)
2tablespoonschia seeds
1/2teaspoonvanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Oat Crumble
1cupraw sunflower seeds
1cupMedjool dates,pitted
3cupsrolled oats
1/4cupvegan butter,melted
1tablespoonsunflower seed butter
1/2teaspoonvanilla extract
1/4teaspoonfine grain sea salt
1-2tablespoonswater,as needed
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9x9 inch glass dish with margarine or butter. Set aside.
Make the Strawberry Vanilla Jam
In a medium saucepan, add frozen strawberries. Cook covered for about 8 minutes over high-medium heat, until strawberries soften.
Mash strawberries with a potato masher or fork. Stir in chia seeds, vanilla and salt. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool (it should continue to thicken when cooling).
Make the Oat Crumble
Spread the sunflower seeds on a baking sheet. When the oven is preheated, roast the sunflower seeds for 10 minutes until lightly golden. When the sunflower seeds are done roasting, remove from the oven and increase to 350F.
Place the roasted sunflower seeds and dates in a food processor. Process until crumbly. Add 2 cups of oats, melted margarine (or butter), sunflower seed butter, vanilla and salt. Add water and process until the mixture sticks together when pressed. Add the remaining 1 cup of oats and process for a few seconds until combined. You want the mixture to stick together, while still having texture.
Press the oat mixture at the bottom of the greased dish, leaving 1.5 cups for topping. Spread the strawberry jam evenly on top of the bottom layer. Finally, crumble the remaining oat mixture on top.
Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered at 350F. Let cool 1 hour before cutting. This helps the bars stick together.
Notes
If you don't have sunflower seed butter, feel free to use almond butter (assuming you don't have a nut allergy of course).You can use roasted sunflower seeds and skip the roasting step.