Almost Nutra Grain Bars

"These are great to take to work, kids lunch boxes, for a potluck or a bake sale, you can slice them and stick them in the freezer then wrap tightly in foil, put a frozen wrapped bar into your kid's lunchboxes, they will thaw out by noon, they are just as good if not better than the store-bought! ---This also works well using blueberry or other flavors of jams, for easy spreading heat the jam in the microwave until softened :)"
 
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photo by CoffeeB photo by CoffeeB
photo by CoffeeB
photo by GzNKz4evr photo by GzNKz4evr
photo by justcallmetoni photo by justcallmetoni
photo by justcallmetoni photo by justcallmetoni
Ready In:
35mins
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
16-20
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ingredients

  • 1 (18 ounce) box yellow cake mix
  • 2 12 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (use only quick-cooking)
  • 12 cup brown sugar (use 3/4 cup for a sweeter crust and topping)
  • 12 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 14 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)
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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

  1. 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! :)
     
  2. Tasted yummy with a scoop of ice cream, but I thought it was much sweeter than an Nutrigrain bar and kinda made my teeth hurt ;-) Still I Iiked it well enough that I will give it another go, this time without the added sugar. Thanks for a great easy recipe!
     
  3. 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. :)
     
  4. 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!!
     
  5. Very good. Used 1 1/2 C strawberry jam made last year, and this was plenty to cover. I don't think extra brown sugar is necessary, the sweetness from the jam staisfies that tooth! These went in a hurry!
     
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Tweaks

  1. 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!
     
  2. 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!
     
  3. 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.
     

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