food swap - cereal bar

packaged cereal bars have always been a hit in our house... i don't like them at all, but the kids do, so I would buy them... easy treats on the go or in the stroller for our morning run... but... even the trader joes brand has extra additives and things I can't pronounce...  so, i tried some recipes for homemade cereal bars and this one has been great!!!

i found a recipe from pinterest but altered it a little bit...  {my comments in bold italics}

INGREDIENT NOTE: Make you oat flour by whirring rolled oats in a coffee grinder, it’s easy and works great!  {this was awesome. used my vitamix to grind up oats to make the oat flour, you know me... we don't own a coffee grinder!! :) }

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Dry:

1 cup gluten free oat flour
1 cup teff flour (or more oat or brown rice flour)  {i used more oat flour}
(If you can do gluten, I imagine spelt, and whole wheat pastry flour would work great!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup palm sugar (or other granulated sugar) {I used organic cane sugar... this recipe does contain sugar so its not perfect, but WAY better than some food processing plant adding unknown amounts of the stuff}

2 tablespoon of flax meal

Wet:
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or other oil)  {i used the coconut oil... trying to use this stuff more and more}
2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling: 
1/4-1/2 cup favorite jelly.  If your jelly is very thin like some low sugar jelly’s are, it is ok to add a couple of tablespoons of tapioca flour or arrowroot starch to thicken it up! Some readers commented that they made their own filling by pureeing a favorite fruit and thickening it on the stove.  An easy way to keep it sugar free and control the sweeteners!  {Trader Joe's Organic Reduced Sugar jelly worked perfect!}

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk the wet ingredients.  Pour into the dry mix and blend until a soft dough is formed.  You may add a couple tablespoons milk if it is necessary.  Divide the dough in half.

Grease an 8 x 8 pan. {a 9x13 pan will make them a little thinner...}

Place half the dough on a piece of parchment, place another piece of parchment over the top, and roll it out into a rough 8 x 8 square (the dough should be too wet to roll without the parchment on top. I have used plastic wrap, waxed paper, and a Silpat for this job too with success, just be sure you don’t try and bake the plastic wrap or waxed paper!)   Invert the rolled dough into the pan, pressing and smooshing until the bottom crust is dispersed.  Gently remove the parchment.  Spread your filling evenly over the bottom crust.  Roll out the top crust in the same manner, and flip over onto the top of the filling.  Press and smoosh with the parchment in place and then remove when you are happy!  I have also just moved pieces of the dough and overlapped pieces as a top crust…works great too!

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the center is set.

This is really a simple recipe and great for playdate snacks, quick breakfasts, or just to munch on. Enjoy!