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Breakfast Bars With Oats and Coconut
![Breakfast Bars With Oats and Coconut](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/03/10/dining/05Apperex/merlin_184316760_bb956d46-d3f9-4fb0-8f3b-e7a48939b829-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus cooling and at least 6 hours’ chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ¾cup/180 milliliters smooth almond butter, at room temperature
- ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
- ⅓cup/73 grams light brown sugar
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing
- 1large egg, beaten, at room temperature
- 1egg white, at room temperature
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½teaspoon vanilla paste or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1⅔cups/146 grams rolled oats
- ¾teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓cup/28 grams unsweetened coconut flakes
- ¼cup/37 grams dried cherries (or another soft, plump dried fruit)
- 3tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2tablespoons shelled sunflower seeds
- 1½tablespoons flax seeds
- 1½tablespoons sesame seeds
Preparation
- Step 1
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer and a large bowl, cream almond butter, granulated and brown sugars, and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add egg, egg white, salt and vanilla, and mix until well incorporated, occasionally scraping the side and bottom of bowl, about 1 minute longer.
- Step 2
Put oats in a small bowl, sift the baking soda over them, and beat into almond butter mixture. With the mixer on low speed, stir in coconut flakes, cherries and seeds until thoroughly mixed. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly against the surface of the dough (still in the bowl) and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 2 days. (This allows the oats to hydrate.)
- Step 3
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a metal 9-inch square baking pan with butter and line it with parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches to hang over 2 sides of the pan and use as handles later. Grease the parchment paper as well.
- Step 4
Scrape dough into the prepared baking pan. Lightly grease a large spatula and firmly press the mixture into the pan in an even layer. Bake until the surface is light golden brown and firm, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Step 5
Transfer to a rack and allow bars to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, use a butter knife or small offset spatula to cut along the inside edges of the pan and release the bars. Using the parchment paper overhang, lift bars out of the pan and place them on a cutting board. Cut into 18 bars. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- To make these into cookies rather than bars, drop ¼-cup measures of the dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake until golden at the edges, 10 to 15 minutes.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I have to chuckle when I see recommendations to make a dish healthier by swapping out granulated sugar for maple syrup, agave syrup, honey, and the like. Your body won't know the difference. Sugar is sugar, regardless of the form it takes, and we eat far too much of it. In my experience, you can cut the sugar (in whatever form) in NYTimes recipes by half and they are still plenty sweet.
My experience with baking in general: most dessert recipes are too sweet for our taste. Certain things — where the sugar does not seem to be essential to the chemical reactions inherent in baking — can be made with 1/2 the sugar just omitted with no substitute. This seems to be one of those recipes.
I make a similar recipe frequently and and for sweetener use ~1Tbsp of honey plus 6 dates lightly softened in water then pureed in the food processor. With that extra moisture you might need to cut back on the nut butter a bit, or perhaps add some chia seeds to gel up the dough. The inclusion of vanilla helps it seem sweeter since we associate that flavor with baked treats — I like to also put in some cinnamon and orange zest for a similar affect.
Before I made these, I was looking for a review that said “Perfect! Just as Melissa said to make them.” I didn’t see one, so I am adding mine: “Perfect! Just as Melissa said to make them.”
Any substitutes hear for the sugar? Would love to make these but I’d rather go for something naturally sweet!
Dear Melissa, I love your recipes, flavour combinations etc. Unfortunately, I am not blessed with your metabolism. Neither do I share the self-control to "nibble on a bar all afternoon". I therefore skipped the white sugar all together and ended up with a deliciously sweet but not cloying cookie that I don't regret eating 2 at a time.
Beware the breakfast bar, the protein bar, that serves as a sneaky carrier for too much sugar. I'm sure these are delicious but not suitable for starting your day on a roller coaster ride of blood sugar imbalance. On top of rolled oats which is a refined carb, and close to a cup (!) of refined sugar, this recipe should fall under dessert. For those seeking a low sugar alternative, cut the sugar by half and add in a couple diced dates (remember to remove the pits).
Why not press the fresh dough into the prepared baking pan and THEN refrigerate? Boy, would that be easier. It’s hard to manipulate the chilled dough.
I don't understand the hand-wringing about the sugar in this recipe -- if you think the processed sugar is too much, decrease it or substitute something else. That said, having made these last night, we think they're perfect as is, easy and delicious.
Grind your flax seeds
I veganized this, because we are, and adjusted for what I had on hand. 1/4 C almond butter 1/2 C peanut butter 3 Tbsp vegan butter 1/2 org white sugar 1 ripened banana 1 flax egg (1 T grnd flax seed + 3 T H2O, set 5 m) 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp vanilla extract 1-2/3 C Montana Wheat GF oats 3/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 C raisins 1/8 C chia seeds 1/4 C sunflower seeds 1/4 pumpkin seeds Followed rest of recipe. It turned out a beautiful golden brown. Cooling right now. Hubby can’t wait.
I have diabetes and my partner usually replaces white sugar with monk fruit and brown sugar with coconut sugar, i believe they're each a 1:1 replacement.
For me this is too much sugar - especially in the morning, & especially for children. I would think it could be cut substantially and still have a complex, tasty breakfast bar. Has anyone tried that? I do love Melissa, but I always have to reduce her sugar & fat proportions.
Certainly cut the sugar if you want, but one of these bars contains only 1/18th of the total amount of sugar, or any of ingredients
It's only a third cup of coconut. I would just add more oats or fruit instead.
First had these as a breakfast cookie at the Whitney, from Frenchette bakery, and searched for a recipe- of course, Melissa Clark! Used peanut butter and substituted potassium chloride for the salt, and forgot to add the dried fruit (darn), but they came out great after overnight in the pan (fully parchment-lined). I’d like to try a cookie for more crunch but despair at getting the right shape (Whitney’s were about 4-5 inches in diameter) since the dough is so stiff. Might try a muffin tin.
Yum yum yum! The almond butter makes these bars so chewy and delicious. As usual with this type of bar, I freestyled the mix-ins a little -- doubled the cherries, tossed some dark chocolate chunks in (lowered sugar by 1/4 c. to offset), and used some chia seeds instead of poppy & flax (just what I had on hand). I also sprinkled sea salt on top of the bars before tossing them in the oven (to offset the sweetness of the chocolate). This is an awesome base recipe for using up random pantry items!
Halved the sugars (could even do less ) Used chia seeds- was good Used cranberries (Emily doesn’t like so would skip next time)
Delicious! I just do NYT recipes as written then change. I would say a little on the sweet side for me but I would only reduce the sugar a little. Rave reviews from all who ate for office morning tea ! And obviously a great recipe base to build from.
These are delicious and a keeper! I did halve the white sugar. As to baking, after 25min they were nowhere near done, but had to pop out. Turned oven off. Back after 20min. Not done, but more evenly browned. Oven on again. 10 min later not quite done, but again needed to pop out (school morning!). Turned oven off again. Back after 20min Came out perfect! Evenly cooked. Maybe will try a longer slower cook than the recipe says. The cookie version could be good - the drier side bits are the best!
Next time I might add two whole eggs - these were not altogether structurally sound for me! Though I do think that my rolled oats are on the thicker side which may have contributed.
If I make again, consider adding the amount of sugar indicated or at least more than 1/3 cup of each.
Used crunchy peanut butter and allulose brown and white sugars. Did not rest the dough for 6 hours. Baked right away and it's good-- made 28 round cookies. Also used kodiak high protein oats. tasted great.
We also dislike overly sweet baked goods and found that 1/2 cup brown sugar was plenty sweet. I also followed suggestions to increase the nut butter to 200 grams and use two whole eggs - both excellent ideas. The only seeds I had were poppy seeds, so I added toasted, chopped pecans, and dried cranberries instead of cherries. Delicious! Just what I was looking for in a breakfast bar/snack cake.
This bars were incredible and exactly what I was looking for…to be honest I adjusted the recipe to fit what I wanted. A hearty “healthish” treat. Added: -1/4 c AP flour -3 bananas -Omitted white sugar and added 2 tbs of extra brown sugar -1/4 c millet -1/2 dark chocolate -1 c apricots -1/2 c prunes -cinnamon Did I wait 6 hours before baking? No I didn’t have the patience. Did I dramatically alter the recipe. Yes. But it turned out exactly how I wanted. Great base recipe to build off of.
Delicious as written and filling. Next time, I’ll add more dried cherries and might try coconut oil in place of butter for flavor.
I take these on long runs for a delicious, soft alternative to prepackaged energy bars. They are always a hit when I share them! Next time I’ll replace some of the poppy seeds with chia.
I'm not sure what happened. I chilled for 6 hours, cooked the recipe as written, but baked for 35 minutes total. It looked crispy and golden brown on top. When I cut into it, after letting it cool completely, it broke apart into delicious 'gravel'. A few held their bar shape - mostly the corner pieces. Ingredient swaps were subbing 1/2 cup date paste for the granulated sugar & used hemp seeds instead of poppy seeds. Maybe the date paste made it too moist? Still super tasty.
subbed peanut butter for almond butter, chia seeds for flax, and prunes for cherries and it was still lovely! Also quartered the sugar because why make it so sweet lol
Use 7x11 aluminum pan - fine
I've made this numerous times and just realized I never let the dough chill for 6 hours. IMHO it doesn't matter. They're still delicious. I like to add chocolate chips and sliced almonds too.
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