I am not really a breakfast person. And it is not because I don’t like breakfast (I actually really like breakfast food) but when I am rushing to get out the door in the morning, the last thing I want to do or think about doing is making breakfast. Now, I know that skipping breakfast is not a good idea. After all, isn’t breakfast the most important meal of the day? Therefore, lately, I have been trying to think of different and creative ways I can have a healthy breakfast, particularly on weekdays. Since oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfast foods, in comes these Oatmeal Breakfast Bars/Muffins.
My recipe is inspired by a recipe for applesauce cookies, given to me by a friend, and by a recipe for On The Glow Basic Oatmeal Squares from Oh She Glows. The oatmeal bars/muffins are a tasty and healthy base that are not too sweet and to which additions of things like dried fruit, different nuts, and fresh fruit could easily be made. I have found these bars/muffins to be incredibly filling, keeping me full for several hours (so that I am not starving by the time lunch rolls around).
Last week, I made a batch on Sunday (in bar form) and put them in individual baggies. Then, each morning, I would grab a bag from the fridge and once I got to work, breakfast was ready. In preparation for this week, I made them again but in muffin form. Looks like breakfast is ready to go for this week too. :)
Oatmeal Breakfast Bars/Muffins
(partially inspired by On the Glow Basic Oatmeal Squares)
(makes about 12 muffins or 9-12 bars)
3 cups of rolled oats (also called old-fashioned oats) *make sure it is not “quick-cooking oats”
3 TBSP chia seeds and/or 3 TBSP of ground flax seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 oz cashews (or other nut of your choice)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp of ground cardamom
1 TBSP of almond butter
1 TBSP of coconut oil
1 cup of applesauce
3 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of rice milk (or other non-dairy or dairy beverage of your choice)
2 very ripe bananas
1 tsp of maple syrup
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grind 1 cup of the oats into a fine powder. Combine the ground oats with the rest of the oats in a bowl. Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients.
2. Combine wet ingredients. Blend in a food processor or blender until the mixture is smooth.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Smooth out the mixture in a greased baking dish or place into a greased muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
5. Eat while warm or let them cool and then store individually in baggies. They will keep in the refrigerator for one week. They can also be frozen and then thawed out when ready to eat.
“Expect problems and eat them for breakfast.” ~ Alfred A. Montapert
These look amazing! How much do you want to come make me these yourself?! Lol. I am actually probably old fashioned in the sense that I love waking up for my coffee and making oat meal in the mornings. Nothing better!
-CT
I love the idea of a cup of coffee and a hot bowl of oatmeal in the morning but for some reason, usually only the coffee ends up happening. :) I will make you some bars!! :)
lol sounds amazing! : )
I guess it makes sense to find cardamom in recipes on your blog ;-)
Now that I had such a success with your hummus I will have to try your muffins. Thanks for giving me the inspiration to spend more time in the kitchen!
What a nice compliment! Thanks!! And I don’t think it is too obvious that I love cardamom, huh? ;)
Pinned it! This looks great, my husband likes the ease of breafast bars, and I can sneak healthy ingredients in these–awesome!!
Amy
Thanks! Would love to hear what kinds of things you add in. That is always the fun part!! :)
Ohh! These look great and I happen to have some leftover rolled oats & almond butter :) I just might have these with my morning coffee soon!
These look great! Haha, love the quote at the bottom :)
I love breakfast food! These look fantastic! Yum
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LOVE that you got a record player! CDs and MP3s will never compare :)
From Brooklyn with love,
Jen
This is a pretty handy breakfast to bring to work especially on busy days. Great idea!
Thanks for dropping by my blog! I think these muffins look amazing! I am a lover of apple cinnamon oatmeal! Some mornings I don’t even have enough time to sit down and eat breakfast (blame it on the sleep button) and then grab something crappy at work. This would be perfect! I better option and a filling one! Totally going in my recipe files! Thank you!
These are great at work. I took them again for this whole past week and it was so easy and nice!
Wow, I definitely want to try making those granola muffin bars! How cool. Thanks for the recipe :)
I think they’d be so good with chocolate chips!
That would be an amazing add-in!
I will totally try these bars. They look awesome and I bet taste amazing!
P.S. I’m glad you are eating breakfast again!!!!!
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Popped in after reading August’s post on brain foods… I am VERY excited to give these a try using GF-oats and sunflower seed butter in place of nuts/nut butter. I love that you gave instructions for chia seeds AND flax seeds. My daughter has a rare but serious allergy to flax and it is often used as an egg substitute. Since she also must avoid eggs, it can be difficult to make so many different substitutions and keep the quality of the finished product!
I often freezer cook on the weekends in preparation for the weekday breakfast rush so a new recipe that the ENTIRE family can eat is much appreciated!
I am so glad that this recipe will work well for your family, especially your daughter. Sunflower seed butter would be so good in this. The nice thing is that the recipe is adaptable. I would love to know how it turns out for you!
I’ll let you know how it turns out! Thanks for the great recipe!
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