Whole Grain Raspberry Crumb Bars [Vegan + Maple Sweetened]

A thick, whole grain, oat crumb bar made with a juicy 3-ingredient raspberry filling for the perfect healthy hand-held snack! These raspberry crumb bars are vegan, whole grain, naturally sweetened, and made right in a loaf pan for a smaller batch of the classic raspberry oat bars! 

Raspberries are one of my all-time favorite fruits, but since they’re quite expensive to buy organic and almost always sold in plastic (my two biggest concerns when grocery shopping), I often pass up on them at the store, instead opting to eat them in the summer when they can be bought from local farms in paper cartons for a few dollars. 

But still, sometimes a raspberry craving strikes when it’s not August, and so I’m left either buying a $6 half-pint of them from the grocery store (which is exactly enough raspberries to do nothing with), or compromising and buying the non-organic ones when they’re on sale for $3, which is a compromise I really hate to make. 

One of my biggest tips for making organic raspberries affordable: only buy them when they’re in season (they’re both more flavorful + cheaper this way), and buy them frozen the rest of the year. Even better: if you have access to a local farm that allows you to pick your own berries in the summer, spend an afternoon or two picking raspberries with your family and stock up your freezer for the winter, and you’ll have local berries year-round!

Pro tip: organic raspberries are always $3.99 or less for a 12oz bag at both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s year round, making it cheaper to buy frozen organic raspberries than it would be to buy fresh, on-sale non-organic any time of year. 

Unless you’re trying to eat them raw by the handful, I find frozen organic raspberries to be equally enjoyable in all of the places I usually love them fresh: poured over yogurt or stirred into oatmeal, mashed into a sauce to pour over ice cream, baked into pies and crisps, and turned into raspberry oat bars. 

Like here, where raspberries go straight from the freezer into a bowl with a tablespoon each of cornstarch and maple syrup, then bake up into a jammy, tart-sweet berry filling for the most perfectly out-of-season bars. 

The crumb layer is made with both whole wheat flour and oats, held together with equal parts of coconut oil, maple syrup, and almond butter, and truly not much else. Half gets pressed into the bottom of a loaf pan, covered with still-frozen raspberries, then topped with the remaining half to form both a crust and a crumb topping. 

Using a loaf pan means this recipe yields a small batch of six bars, which I find perfect for keeping around the house to snack on or brining to a friend’s house to share. I kept the quantities simple so that, if you’re feeding a crowd, this recipe can be easily doubled to be baked in an 8-inch square pan instead, without any odd measurements or guesswork involved. 

The magic happens as it bakes, when the raspberries defrost, soften, and transform into a thick, jam-like consistency in the middle of these bars, and the crust gets golden brown. The crumb layer is sweet and buttery tasting (despite having no actual butter in the recipe!) and not too crumbly, while the raspberry filling is tart and fresh; biting into a bar is like hopping in time machine back to 2002, when my mom would bake raspberry oat bars as a special after school treat and I would always attempt to see just how many bits of crumbly topping I could eat off the top of the freshly baked pan before she noticed any were missing. 

Whether or not you grew up eating raspberry crumb bars, I think you are going to love this simple, fruit-filled snack bar recipe. Its made with ingredients I always have in the pantry (plus frozen raspberries!), can be assembled in just minutes, and makes your house smell like dessert all day long. 

If you make them, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your Whole Grain Raspberry Crumb Bars and share it with me on Instagram. I love seeing my recipes in your kitchen! 

 

Whole Grain Raspberry Crumb Bars [Vegan + Maple Sweetened]

Crumb:

• 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted*
• 1/4 cup creamy almond butter**
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour***
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Filling:

• 2 cups frozen raspberries
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. Make the crumb: stir together coconut oil, almond butter, maple syrup, and vanilla in a small mixing bowl. Add all remaining crumb ingredients and stir well to fully combine. Divide the crumb mixture in half, and press half of it into the prepared loaf pan to form a thin, even bottom crust layer. 

3. Make the filling: stir together all filling ingredients in a small bowl, then pour into the loaf pan on top of the crust. 

4. Crumble the remaining dough on top of the raspberries in an even layer, then use your fingers to press down firmly, compacting the bars and helping to stick the top layer to the berries. 

5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is golden. Let cool completely in the pan before removing (use the parchment paper to help lift it out) and cutting into 6 bars. Eat immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. 

NOTES:

• *1/4 cup or 4Tablespoons of melted grass-fed butter can be used instead of coconut oil, if desired (but obviously the bars would no longer be dairy-free/vegan in this case).
• **Be sure you’re using all-natural almond butter that’s just almonds and salt, with no added oils or sweeteners. If using unsalted almond butter, increase the salt  in the recipe to a heaping 1/4 teaspoon.
• ***White whole wheat flour has a more mild flavor and texture than traditional whole wheat, so I prefer to use it for baking, though both would work equally well here. I haven’t tried this recipe with a gluten-free flour, but I suspect an all-purpose GF blend would work well; though flours like coconut or almond would not. 
• This recipe can be doubled and baked in an 8-inch square pan to yield 12 bars. I’ve found a double batch usually takes 5-10 minutes more bake time to get golden. 

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