It’s little Ms. Bubbly’s birthday. She’s a doll all right — angel-faced with a perpetual twinkle in her bright brown-eyes. Her baby talk coupled with chuckles makes me the happiest grandma on the planet! Put Ms. Bubbly on an all fruit-berry diet, and she’ll be a happy camper. So says her beautiful mummy (my sweet first born.)
I’m thinking of fruit ‘n berry oat bars. The rugged type. The kind that will stay hardy and survive the ultimate journey down Route 66 with the mighty mailman and arrive at Ms. Bubbles doorstep in <sigh> one piece.
Like this one below? Diced walnuts, diced pecans, and St. Dalfour Four Fruits spread keep the bars tight and compact. In case you’re wondering. St. Dalfour combo I used is all about the Fantastic Four: Strawberries, red raspberries, black raspberries, and cherries. In the photo below, I managed to capture the final three before they disappeared into thin air. Mr. Chi-Town opines that one’s got to make the move as fast as lightning, or else…
Please meet St. Dalfour. St. Dalfour comes in as many as 18 different luscious fruit spreads. Mr. Chi-Town is a fan of the Four Fruit.
Even the little crumbs are to die for. I dig ’em!
Guess what’s going to be the star ingredient of Ms. Bubble’s Ultimate Road Oat Bars? As it Cooks says pine nuts aka pignoli. While it bakes in the oven, the pine nuts get all nice and toasty. As a result, they not only impart a nice subtle buttery aroma, they add a beautiful, light crunchy flavor as well. Interestingly, pine nuts do seem to blend well with St. Dalfour 4 Fruits. For all you know, it might blend with any St. Dalfour fruit spread or any fruit preserve of your own liking. Being preservative-free and sugar free (it is sweetened with grape juice), St Dalfour is right up my alley.
And oh, if you’re one of those lucky devils, a few bits or chunks of fruit or berries in the luscious spread await you.
Take a look-see below. Isn’t that a fluffy bluet? Next to it, I believe, are pieces of cherries, folks. (Nope. I’m not going to pop it into my mouth!)
The oven’s been pre-heated. It’s time to bake some bars. And let me tell you one thing about these bars. The aromas might remind you of the classic English shortbread or perhaps the old-fashioned Nyonya-style Malaysian fruit tarts. Either way, it will be fun to sip a cup of hot tea or freshly-brewed coffee while taking in the wild aromas as the bars bake, don’t you think? Looks like she’s ready for the oven.
Here’s the Ultimate Road Oat Bars baked with love.
Oh my! See those little chunks of pine nuts? 
Oh my! The 4 Fruit spread has bubbled and caramelized around the edges. Wish I could describe the aromas that are wafting in my kitchen right now. Once the bars have cooled, they will be sliced and nicely packed into a little goodie box. Destination: Ms. Bubbles and her proud parents — with Lots of Love!
Here’s the recipe for The Ultimate Road Oat Bars
First, line and grease a 9×9 baking pan (I use William Sonoma Copper Goldtouch Nonstick Square cake pan) with softened butter. Make sure there’s about 1 inch of the parchment paper draping over the sides of the pan. This enables easy pick up of the bars once they are baked and cooled. Cleanup is a breeze, too.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats (I used Bob Mills Organic Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats)
1 1/2 cups flour (I used King Arthur Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour)
1 1/2 cups heaping cup pine nuts (I used the one purchased from Trader Joe’s)
1/3 cups coconut sugar (I used Now Organic Coconut Sugar)
1 teaspoon salt
8 oz of unsalted butter, melted (I used Lurpak unsalted butter)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
10 oz. fruit preserve (I used a 10 oz. jar of St. Dalfour Four Fruits fruit spread)
fresh lemon zest from 1 lemon
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using low heat, gently melt the butter in a heat-proof bowl or pan. In a separate mixing bowl, bring together all the dry ingredients: Rolled oats, flour, pine nuts, coconut sugar, and salt. Mix well.
3. Once the butter is melted, add the vanilla extract. Mix well. Pour it into the dry mixture. To make sure the ingredients are well-incorporated, use a wooden spoon.
(I use my clean hands to blend them all in. It’s a heart-warming, delightful mess to mess with anyway. Nina thinks that I’ve “skillet hands.” Go figure!)
4. Divide the oat mixture into 2 equal parts. Place one part of the mixture into the baking pan. Press the mixture really firmly with the palm of your hand or the back of a stainless steel measuring cup.
5. Empty the fruit preserve on the pressed oat mixture. Spread them evenly all over. An offset icing spatula can come in handy.
6. Grate the zest of a lemon all over the evenly-spread fruit preserve.
7. Sprinkle the remaining half of the oat mixture evenly all over the fruit spread with lemon zest. Gently press the oat mixture down so that the fruit preserves are ‘well-covered’ (unless you like a little peek-a-boo effect, sprinkle the mixture randomly all over the fruit preserve leaving little gaps in between. The spread will ooze out and create pretty fruit stain signatures here and there.)
8. Bake the bars for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven. Cool the bars completely — only if you have the patience. If you have a skillet mouth, what are you waiting for?
Using a good kitchen devil, cut the bars into desired slices (I usually cut mine into 25 little squares) and store them in an airtight container in the fridge to maintain freshness. When you bite into a bar, it’ll taste like buttery oatmeal cookies with just the right amount of homemade mixed-fruit-berry jam . The pine nuts, as I had mentioned earlier, simply make the bars really buttery and tasty. So if the quest is for the ultimate oat bars, The Ultimate Road Oat Bars would be one to consider.
What about you? Do you have an oat bar story?
Can’t wait to see Ms. Bubbles sink her milk teeth into her birthday bars.
Let’s make an oat toast to her Big 2!
Happy Birthday, Little Ms. Bubbles! We love you lots. And we sure love your parents, too. 🙂
Hugs & Muah xxx
G-ma & G-pa