Crunchy Oat Slice
Posted: November 5, 2011 Filed under: Biscuits, Traditional 36 Comments
Wotchers!
Here’s a recipe using one of my favourite ingredients – oats!
Whilst the thought of porridge leaves me shuddering in horror, stick some oats in a biscuit and I’m elbowing myself to the front of the queue!
I love this recipe because it is so easy: it’s ready to eat in less than an hour (45 minutes if you’re speedy on the prep) and is a robust keeper – so its fantastic for packed lunches and picnics, IF you can keep fingers out of the tin.
Oats add a wonderful crunch to anything baked, and these flapjack-type bars are no exception. One bite and the crunchy oats and the zing! of the raspberry jam conjure up images of tramping about the Highlands of Scotland, kilts, heather and bagpipes, all from the comfort of your armchair. And oats are so good for you! You can almost feel yourself getting fitter and more glowingly rosy-cheeked with each bite! It’s practically a fitness workout. You’d probably get MORE unfit if you DIDN’T eat one. At least, that’s what I tell myself as I recline back into the sofa with my mug of coffee and sideplate.
Top tip of the day – don’t skip the salt. Even though this is a sweet recipe, the oats need that little hint of salt to bring out their flavour. Trust me – it’s definitely not the same without it.
Best of all, these are so adaptable. No raspberry jam? Use apricot. Something not too sweet and with a bit of sharpness to contrast with the oats. Try marmalade. Or plum. Or rhubarb and strawberry (my current favourite from this summer’s preserves). Or Apple Butter. Or dates, simmered with a little lemon juice and water until soft. Or – oh wow – mincemeat! I just thought of that, and now I want to make some to see if it’s as awesome as my brain is telling me it is!
You make some too!
Crunchy Raspberry Oat Slice
90g demerera sugar
125g wholemeal flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
125g rolled oats
125g butter
250g seedless raspberry jam
- Preheat oven to 180°C, 160°C Fan.
- Grease a 20cm square cake tin or slice tin, and line with baking parchment.
- Put all the ingredients except the jam and the oats into the bowl of a food processor and blitz until the butter is incorporated and the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs. Add the oats and pulse once or twice just to break them up slightly – you want to keep some texture in there.
- Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared cake tin.
- Put the jam into a saucepan and warm gently. Pour the warmed jam over the base mixture and spread evenly.
- Scatter the remaining oat mixture over the top of the jam and press lightly.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Allow to cool before cutting into bars.
Cost: £1.50 (used home-made jam, November 2011)
Time To Cook - Online 
Yuuuuuuumy! And for once I have all of the necessary ingredients! Off to whip up a batch before X factor 🙂
Were there any left AFTER X-factor? 😉 M-A
I’ve just printed out this recipe to try it, they look and sound delicious.
Wow! You both are so speedy! Hope you likey! 😀 M-A
Golly,I like the idea of them being good for the lunch boxes.Lovely and quick and easy…me too,I’m off to try them out.Thankyou M-A.
That’s my Sunday morning sorted out then! I’ve got some plum and some damson jam I made this year, so I think I’ll have a go with one of those. Thanks M-A!
I’ve seen a recipe like this before and have been meaning to give it a go. I love oats and flapjacky things, and I also love jam so this seems like a great idea to me!
These are seriously good,I filled them with a mix of homemade victoria plum and raspberry jam as that is what I had to hand.I will need to make some more for Monday’s lunch boxes I think!Thankyou again for sharing this recipe.
Wotchers Caroline! And Huzzah! for them proving a hit! 😀 M-A
I always love a new flap-style bar, and these look moorishly promising, Crunchy but not tooth-cracking like so many homemade flappies.
I don’t suppose the butter could be replaced by oil for the dairy free?
Wotchers Bee! I don’t see why not – 125ml would be my guess – if you try it, let me know how it goes, please? Happy Baking! M-A 😀
Yes,very good idea for school lunch box……..should get me some brownie points for those !I fancy the date option !.I made chewy ginger cookies for last week but by Thursday were all gone so had to sneak a chocolate’ lemon & slime ‘cake bar from trick or treating in the lunchbox .They arent really supposed to take chocolate .but hey nobody’s perfect !
Regards ,Caroline
Look delicious. I love oats too and have recently got over my porridge phobia, by adding lots of nice honey, spices and nuts to it – it’s a whole new experience!
At this risk of sounding silly, what’s apple butter like? I’ve never heard of it before.
Wotchers Gary – Apple Butter is jam made with apples – add sugar (and spices if liked) to apple puree and cook off excess liquid. Instant pie filling – although I mostly use mine in savoury dishes 😀
Thanks 🙂 My neighbour gave me a load of pears yesterday. Might see if I can make a pear butter in a similar way.
Ps. You were mine and the boyfriend’s favourite on Bake Off 🙂
Thanks Gary – it was a whole heap of fun! How did the pear butter turn out? 😀
So, as I promised earlier on the thread, I made these on Sunday morning. My kids love them and clamour for them in their packed lunches.
We’ve renamed them, though. They are like flapjacks with a jam layer, so my 9 year old has called them JamJacks, and I think they are going to be a regular family favourite. Thank you, MA!
Wotchers Jay! So glad they’re popular – and versatile with mixing up the fillings too! 😀
I’m on our third batch! Plum jam is our favourite filling so far but we’ve a few more jams to try
I hope you save some of these oat slices for the weekend! They look delicious!
Thanks Henny – I’ll try! 😀 M-A
These are so tasty, quick and easy!!! I love them and made them for mine and my sisters packed lunch.
Wotchers Thomas! Well done you at getting in the kitchen and having a go! Really glad you like the result! M-A 😀
I made these last night with the raspberry jam that was left over from making the melting moments not that long ago.
What is it about the smell of warmed jam?! I love it!
Brought one in with me to work today for my mid morning snack… I’m definately going to be making these again!
True to my word, I’ve just popped another batch in the oven (again for me to take into work to snack on and avoid the dreaded vending machine).
Was looking in the jam section of the supermarket and they have pineapple jam… it just had to be tried!
I made these with figs-I chopped them up and simmered in a little bit of water, sugar and lemon juice like you suggested with dates-and they were gorgeous. Like a love match between fig rolls and flapjacks!
Oooh figs! Yum! Love all those crunchy little seeds! Thanks for the addition to the suggestions! M-A 😀
Does it matter if you use plain flour in place of wholemeal? The only thing not currently in the house and was planning on making some tomorrow! 🙂
Wotchers Mike! No, doesn’t matter – have at it with what you’ve got! 😉 Happy Baking!
Finally got round to making some yesterday afternoon – delicious, even with plain flour!
Would adding a couple of tablespoons of golden syrup help to bind the mixture a bit more (which is what I would use in ordinary flapjacks)? The top layer was a bit loose, but maybe I just didn’t pat it down firmly enough…?
Cheers for a great recipe though 🙂
Wotchers Mike! Don’t be afraid to be heavy handed with the patting down – it’s a very forgiving recipe! But if you did want to add something just to the topping, a little more butter/sugar would keep it crunchy, golden syrup would make it chewy. You choose! 😀
Love the recipe, did a similar one with oats and it did taste lovely…they are called energy boost bars . Its on our blog…link enclosed…i’m afraid it is in Dutch…should nog be a huge problem i think….otherwise translation- app is on the blogpage…
Yum! Am chewing on a warm bit now (couldn’t wait to cool completely!) Used home made blackcurrant jelly. Will be giving to kids when they come home from school as part of our ‘healthy eating’ in 2012! I think they are going to like this plan if this is included!! Next time I’ll chill the butter as this was soft and in my Aga warm kitchen there was no ‘sprinkling’ of topping but more a ‘de-constructing’ of ingredients! Worked well though, am on second slab so need to hide it from myself very soon. Many thanks!
Hi Mary – Anne, I was meant to be gardening this morning to burn off an excess of calories from the weekend, luckily for me it looked like it was going to rain so I had no choice but to stay in and challenge my energies into baking! These slices fitted the bill perfectly, and as you rightly point out, they are a healthy option and so much less taxing on the muscles than digging the borders, and finally, it would be rude of me not to cook them as you went to the trouble of posting the recipe (don’t ya just love the logic !)
PS I used apricot jam – they’re utterly delicious.
I just made these and they are delicious! Definitely will be a regular in our household in the US. One question – as delicious as they are they are not crunchy. They hold together as bars, but they are on the softer side with only a little crunch. Any thoughts on what might cause that? I used US Wholewheat flour which I think is the equivalent of UK wholemeal, demerara sugar rolled oats, and Irish butter, baked at 160 Fan as suggested until browned – this took slightly longer for me than the recommended times. Regardless, it’s a keeper!
Much love from the US!