My Oatmeal Bars Almost Failed – Here’s How I Saved Them!

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I recently found myself with a bag of rolled oats that I hadn’t touched for weeks. I had bought them by mistake, thinking they were instant oats. I usually prefer instant oats because they don't need to be cooked, but I didn’t want to waste these, so I decided to make oatmeal bars. After a quick search online, I found a recipe with rave reviews—over 3,000 people had tried it! Some loved it, while others said the bars turned out too wet. Well, I thought, why not give it a shot?

The original recipe called for walnuts and cranberries, but I made a few changes. I used almonds instead of walnuts and swapped cranberries for raisins. I didn’t have applesauce, so I used a whole banana, thinking it would do the trick. 


I also replaced cane sugar with brown sugar and used full cream milk instead of almond milk. To top it off, I added a little more vanilla essence and an extra half teaspoon of cinnamon because, well, why not?

I soaked everything together—except for the almonds—and let the mixture sit. Just before putting the batter into the tray, I tossed in the chopped almonds. The aroma while it baked was fantastic, but when I took them out of the oven, the bars had a cakey texture that wasn’t what I was hoping for. They were soft and had too much moisture, probably because I used a whole banana. A banana is definitely more than a quarter cup of applesauce!

Not wanting to give up, I decided to salvage them. I cut the bars and placed them back into the oven to dry out a bit more. I covered them so they wouldn’t burn. 


After the second bake, they firmed up nicely, and I was much happier with the texture. They keep well in the fridge for a few days, and I even tried reheating them with some chocolate cubes on top—delicious!

Here’s the method I used to make these bars:

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup brown sugar (original calls for cane sugar)
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp cinnamon powder
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup full cream milk (original calls for almond milk)
  • 1 whole banana (instead of ¼ cup applesauce)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup almonds (instead of walnuts), chopped
  • ¼ cup raisins (instead of cranberries)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
  2. In one bowl, combine the rolled oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
  3. I used a blender to blend all the wet ingredients together—eggs, milk, banana, and vanilla extract.
  4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and let it sit for about 20 minutes to blend.
  5. Fold in the chopped almonds and raisins, and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  6. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
  7. Let the bars cool for a few minutes before cutting them. If you want them firmer, bake them again after slicing.
That’s how I turned a cakey disaster into firm, delicious oatmeal bars! A bit of trial and error, but definitely worth it.

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