These wild blueberry bars are a favorite in my house. I have been making a version of them for years, but decided to make them healthier by cutting down on the sugar, adding whole wheat flour, and swapping out half of the butter for applesauce. The result: an even tastier bar that I can feel good about serving for breakfast, throwing into lunch boxes, or serving with a scoop of ice cream for dessert (which is to die for, by the way)! If you wanted to bulk up the nutrition even more, swapping out the flour for almond meal would be amazing, too.
2¼cupwhole wheat flour use wheat/gluten-free, if needed
3/4cupbrown sugarpacked
1½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½cupbutter or margarine, melted
½cupunsweetened applesauce
3cupsfrozen wild blueberriesor use fresh wild blueberries or fresh or frozen regular blueberries
1Tbsp. cornstarch
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
Add the melted butter and applesauce and mix until just combined. (It will appear crumbly; that’s okay.)
In a small bowl, mix together the blueberries and cornstarch.
Place 2/3 of the crumble mixture in a 9x13 baking dish and, using your hands, pat down until you have an even layer covering the bottom of the dish.
Top with the blueberry mixture followed by the remaining crumble mixture. The remaining crumble mixture doesn’t need to be patted down. Instead, it should be sprinkled evenly over the blueberries.
Bake it for 25 – 30 minutes, until the top is starting to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely in the baking dish, then cut into bars.
Store the bars in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for them up to 3 months in an airtight container or freezer bag.
Notes
Do Ahead or Delegate: Make crumble mixture, mix blueberries with cornstarch and refrigerate, or fully prepare and refrigerate or freeze the bars.Tip: Blueberries contain more disease-fighting antioxidants than any other fruit or vegetable. A serving of blueberries provides as many antioxidants as five servings of squash, carrots, apples, or broccoli.Scramble Flavor Booster: Add 1 tsp. lemon zest to the blueberry mixture. Replace half of the flour with almond flour.Like this recipe? Check out The Scramble's family-friendly meal plans to see just how simple getting dinner on the table can be!