Healthy Strawberry Crumble Bars
These healthy strawberry crumble bars are the perfect dessert or snack made with simple wholesome ingredients. Vegan, easy to make gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
These fruity bars check all the right boxes for me. Something mildly sweet, chewy, juicy, and honestly anything with a crumb like top just makes me happy. They definitely are close competition with my chocolate chip cookie mug cake for my favorite dessert treat.
Making these strawberry crumble bars with oats also happens to make these bars perfect for breakfast too. So yes, you can have dessert for breakfast.
Why You’ll Love these Bars
- Easy to make. You just need a few basic ingredients to make these and these are a forgiving enough dessert that some modifications can be made while still keeping these bars delicious.
- These bars include a lot of wholesome ingredients. The focus for these bars was to try and keep that as close to whole foods as possible. By focusing on whole foods these bars have a bit more fiber, omega 3s, and a lot more natural sweetness to them.
- They still feel indulgent. The berry filling is nice and gooey, while you still have the bite and structure of the crumb that make these feel like a decadent dessert.
Key Ingredients
- Strawberries: Fresh and frozen can work, just be mindful of how juicy they are
- Maple Syrup: Adds a nice touch of sweetness to both the filling and crumble
- Rolled Oats: We’ll be processing this into a flour for the recipe
- Chia Seeds: To help gel up our fruit filling
- Flour: I used spelt flour to make these higher fiber
- Almond Butter: It is our butter replacement for the crumble and bakes really well
How to make strawberry crumble bars
Start by cooking down your strawberries with your chia seeds, cornstarch and sugar. When the berries appear to start to thicken, remove from the stovetop and allow them to cool and thicken further as you prepare your crumble.
In a food processor, add your oats and process them into a course flour. Add your remaining crumble ingredients and blitz them together using your pulse function until you have a a moldable looking dough.
Line a 9in x 13in baking tray with parchment paper. Take 2/3 of your crumble and start pressing it down into the base of your baking tray.
Layer your base with the strawberry filling. (If you have extra berry mixture you can save the rest as fresh jam for toast.) Now take your remaining crumble and break it up into smaller pieces to generously sprinkle overtop.
Bake your crumble in the oven for 25 minutes then allow to completely cool. Once cool, further set in the fridge for an additional hour before removing from the tray and cutting it into squares.
Tips for making this recipe
- Make sure to allow your bars to completely set. This involves allowing the bars to completely cool, then placing the bars in the fridge to further set and firm up. If you cut your bars too soon, they will fall apart.
- To keep these bars refined sugar-free, make sure to stick to the suggestions for coconut sugar and maple syrup. You can sub out coconut sugar for brown sugar or white sugar if you don’t need these bars to be refined sugar free.
- Make sure your dough comes together. If you notice your down is really dry or it’s not sticking together, add a little more plant milk to make it more workable. I like to add the milk in one tablespoon at a time to help avoid the potential of the dough becoming too wet and sticky.
Can I make these bars gluten free?
Yes! You can replace the flour with more rolled oats. Replace the 3/4 cup of flour with 1 cup of rolled oats. You can also do a mix of almond flour as well. Just note, that they might be a little more crumbly. If your dough appears too dry, add additional plant based milk until it is easier to work into a dough.
Are these Strawberry Crumble Bars Healthy?
These bars use a number of wholesome ingredients that are high in fiber and healthy fats. Some of the high fiber ingredients include the strawberries, chia seeds, rolled oats, and spelt flour. And the healthy fats come from chia seeds (good source of omega 3s) and almond butter.
Can you make these bars with frozen strawberries?
If you don’t have access to fresh strawberries or if they are not yet in season, you can use frozen! Just note, frozen berries will be a little more juicy. If your strawberry filling is not firming up really well, add a little extra cornstarch or chia seeds to help thicken it further.
More Dessert Bar Recipes
Vegan Strawberry Crumble Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cooling Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 bars 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These healthy strawberry crumble bars are the perfect dessert or snack made with simple wholesome ingredients. Vegan, easy to make gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
Ingredients
Strawberry Filling
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, diced
- 2 tbsp sugar (I used coconut sugar)
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- Juice of ½ a small lemon
Oat Crumble
- 1 ¾ cup rolled oats
- ¾ cup spelt flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ginger powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup almond butter or vegan butter
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 3 tbsp of unsweetened plant milk
Lemon Icing (Optional)
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1–2 tsp water
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, add in your strawberries, sugar, chia seeds, and cornstarch and allow to cook down and thicken, about 5-8 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and squeeze over top your lemon juice then set aside and allow to completely cool and thicken more as you prepare your dough.
- Set oven to 350F. In a food processor, add in your oats, flour, baking powder, ginger and salt and process to make oats into a coarse flour.
- Add in your maple syrup, almond butter and plant milk and process into a moldable dough.
- Take ⅔ of your dough and begin pressing it into a 9in x 13in baking pan lined with parchment paper, making sure to press firmly and flatten evenly to cover the base of your pan.
- Take your now thickened cooked strawberries and pour them over top of your base, spreading them out evenly.
- Next, take the remaining dough and crumble it over the strawberry layer.
- Place your bars in the oven for 25 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to completely cool.
- Once cooled, place the tray in the fridge for at least an hour to completely set and then gently lift your bars out of the pan using the parchment paper and carefully cut into squares using a sharp knife.
- When ready to serve, mix together your icing ingredients and drizzle overtop then serve.
Notes
Allow your bars to completely cool once out of the oven. I highly recommend making sure you place the bars in the fridge to further set and firm up before cutting.
If you need to use frozen strawberries, your filling might come out extra juicy. If this happens, feel free to use additional chia seeds a little extra cornstarch to help thicken it up better.
If you notice your doough is really dry or it’s not sticking together, add a little more plant milk to make it more workable. I like to add the milk in one tablespoon at a time to help avoid the potential of the dough becoming too wet and sticky.
Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought in the comments below! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats
★ Catherine
