Gluten-Free Strawberry Sunrise Bars

Bring a little sunshine into your life with these gluten-free/vegan strawberry sunrise bars.

Photography By The Eclectic Kitchen

Photography By The Eclectic Kitchen

Breakfast is hands down my favorite meal of the day, but when The Eclectic Kitchen and I decided to come up with blog recipes, we knew we had to include a “make ahead” breakfast bar that could get ourselves and our families out the door in a hurry if we needed to. These bars are a guilt free way of telling your family how much you love them but “we are late!”. Great for breakfast, snack or even dessert topped with vanilla ice cream. This bright flavor combination of sunny berries and oranges, combined with the creamy, nuttiness of oats and coconut are the perfect way to send your tastebuds off to paradise. I hope you try these at home and enjoy them as much as we do!

Strawberry Sunrise Bars

Recipe By Skylar Edberg in collaboration with The Eclectic Kitchen

Yield: 16 servings

Prep time: 20 minute

Cook time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cups rolled oats, plus 2 tablespoons for topping

  • ½  cup oat flour*

  • ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

  • ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes, finely chopped

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1 cup mashed banana, about 2 medium  

  • ⅛  cup maple syrup, plus 2 tablespoons for filling

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 teaspoon orange zest

  • 2 cups diced strawberries

  • 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot

  • 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

  • 2 tablespoons slivered almonds (optional)


    METHOD

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper.

    In a large mixing bowl combine rolled oats, reserving 2 tablespoons for topping, oat flour, salt, coconut and baking powder

    Using a rubber spatula, stir in the mashed banana, maple syrup, vanilla extract and orange zest. Mix until combined and a sticky dough is formed.

    Transfer ½ of the mixture into the prepared baking pan and use your fingers to press the dough into the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.

    In a small bowl combine the strawberries, cornstarch, orange juice and 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Sprinkle the strawberries on the surface of the dough and top with remaining oat mixture, reserved rolled oats and slivered almonds.

    Bake for 20 minutes until the top becomes  light golden brown. Remove bars from the oven and cool completely in pan.

    Cut the cooled bars into 16 squares and store at room temperature or refrigerator for up to one week. Freeze up to one month.

    *If you don’t have oat flour, process 1 cup rolled oats in a food processor on high for about 1 minute until a fine flour forms

Skylar Thomson