Community Pick
Almost Nutra Grain Bars
photo by CoffeeB
- Ready In:
- 35mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Serves:
-
16-20
ingredients
- 1 (18 ounce) box yellow cake mix
- 2 1⁄2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (use only quick-cooking)
- 1⁄2 cup brown sugar (use 3/4 cup for a sweeter crust and topping)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1⁄4 cup melted butter, plus
- 2 tablespoons melted butter (can use vegetable oil)
- 1 large egg, slightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups strawberry preserves (can use a little more, or use your favorite preserves) or 2 cups raspberry preserves (can use a little more, or use your favorite preserves)
directions
- Set oven to 375 degrees (oven rack to second-bottom position).
- Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
- In a large bowl combine cake mix, oatmeal, cinnamon and brown sugar; mix with a spatula or a large wooden spoon.
- In a small cup whisk egg with lemon juice and vanilla until combined; add to the crumb mixture along with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted butter.
- Using a large wooden spoon toss to combine then use your fingers to finish the mixing.
- Mix until the mixture clumps together.
- Sprinkle a litle more than half of the crumb mixture into the pan then spread out evenly pressing firmly to cover bottom.
- Spoon the jam carefully over the crust in the pan and spread evenly.
- Cover with remaining crumb mixture over top of the jam then gently pat the mixture down slightly.
- Bake for 20 minutes (the top should be very light brown).
- Cool completely, or semi-freeze before cutting into bars (this will make cutting the bars easier).
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Reviews
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These are just wonderful! I made them for my 2 year old that loooves nutragrain bars. I made a few changes to them that suited us better. I also didnt have any cake mix, so I used what a previous reviewer used instead. The flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Although I cut the sugar down to 1/2 cup. I also used 3/4 cup ground flax seed instead of the 1/4 cup melted butter. I did use the 2tbsp butter though. These were definitely sweet enough and I will absolutely be making these again instead of buying them. Thank you for the recipe! I have come to adore all of the recipes that you post! :)
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You did it again Kitten! You have never let me down - not to mention providing me with another fabulous recipe! No more Nutri-Grain bars for this house, I am making them for now on. I did try a sugar-free jam just to see if it made a difference. It was good, but I will stick to the "real" stuff next time. :)
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WOW! This was great!! The base/topping wons wonderful! I used a 1 lb (18 oz) of strawberry preserves. I think it was a bit much, in the middle the bars didn't hold together as well as I would have liked. My 6 yo didn't care for them but she's finiky and claimed befoe she had them "I don't like jelly". I cut into 'sticks' and wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for future snacking. Thanks!!
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Tweaks
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Wow! I made a batch of these today using homemade apple butter. I used a reduced sugar yellow cake mix. I also used a combo of old fashioned oats, quick oats, and a 5 grain blend for a little more texture. I used oil instead of the melted butter as well. They turned out wonderful--much better than any store bought bar. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
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These are absolutely delicious. I didn't have a box yellow cake, so subbed the dry ingredients from a yellow cake recipe (2c flour, 2tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 c sugar). I also added an extra tsp of vanilla to the wet ingredients, to make up the missing flavor from the box mix. I also subbed canola oil for the melted butter. Given all my substitutions, I held my breath -- but they came out great! I used a strawberry-rhubarb preserve. I think I might try this next time with some homemade applesauce, cooked down to reduce a little more. I cut these up and wrapped individual bars in wax paper, froze them, and will be adding to lunchboxes. Thanks, Kitten!
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I made these to take to work and just know everyone is going to go crazy. They are sooooo good. I had to break out my mixer to make the dough which did seem a little bit dry. Was tempted to alter a bit as that had me worried, but I didn't and the resulting cookie was just perfect. For the preserves, I used a combination of cherry preseves supplemented with raspberry and plum preserves. A divine combination prompted by necessity. 10/8 Update: Made these again by request. This time I used almond extract in lieu of vanilla and combined peach and raspberry preserves. The dough was a bit softer on this batch -- guessing this was because I used oil instead of butter. Again the cookies were superb.