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Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe

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It’s not often that I buy Nutri-grain bars.  We actually really like them (the taste that is) but even though they say “Made with real fruit”, there’s a lot more in them than that- including food dyes!  Recently, we stopped purchasing foods with dyes because of my niece Maddie.  She’s one of those that turns hyperactive when she eats them. Now we check every label!

So, what do we always do when my kids like something that I’m not comfortable having in the house?  We make our own!  Which is what we decided for the delicious Nutri-grain bars.  We made our own cereal bars with more natural ingredients, actual fruit, and no food dyes to be found!

Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe. Everyone loves our make at home version of cereal bars!

Let’s compare our list of ingredients- The commercial version has a few ingredients we don’t like and a whole lot of other ingredients we don’t normally keep in our pantry. Our filling consisted of pure strawberries, while the commercial brand listed more sugar than strawberry in the filling.

Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe. Everyone loves our make at home version of cereal bars!

Making your own can be fun to experiment with other filings as well. Stick with the fruit that is in season, or even just use some whole fruit jam as your filling.  Or for dessert, try almond butter and chocolate chips!

Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe. Everyone loves our make at home version of cereal bars!

OK- So this is what we did for our Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe.  First I made the dough (full recipe below)

Then,  we rinsed, de-stemmed, and chopped up the strawberries in a food processor until smooth.   I’ve also done this where I break up the strawberries over the stovetop first, over some low heat, and then blend it up. It does get a little smoother, but you may want to leave it chunky. Your choice.

Then, we rolled out the dough, and spread our strawberries down the side of a square piece of dough, and folded over.  We pinched the sides to keep the filling in, and then baked it.

Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe. Everyone loves our make at home version of cereal bars!
Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe. Everyone loves our make at home version of cereal bars!

They turned out truly delicious!   The one complaint I had from my kids (and husband), was there wasn’t enough filling. The more filling I tried to add, the tougher it was to fold the dough over without everything spilling out.  So, if you have any advice, let us know! These make the perfect healthy snack!

Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars Recipe. Everyone loves our make at home version of cereal bars! https://www.superhealthykids.com/homemade-cereal-bars/
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4.1 from 82 votes

Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8
Calories: 760kcal

Ingredients

Crust

Sauce

Instructions

  • Cream the coconut, agave, vanilla and egg, with an electric mixer.
  • In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to your creamed ingredients, a little at a time, with an electric mixer, until it is well incorporated.
  • Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour. Once chilled, roll out on wax paper, using flour where necessary so it doesn’t stick to your rolling pin, or the counter.
  • Cut and wash 1 cup of strawberries. Put them in a small saucepan with 1 tablespoon of water.
  • Using the edge of a wooden spoon, slowly break the strawberries up until the start to break apart. After about 5 minutes, pour strawberries into a food processor and blend until smooth. If you still would like it a little thicker, at this point, return the pureed strawberries to the saucepan, and add 1/2 tablespoon of corn starch with a few drops of water *enough to turn the corn starch liquid. Add to the strawberries and stir over low heat until it begins to thicken.
  • Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough, and using a pizza wheel, cut into 3X3 inch squares.
  • Pour strawberry sauce on one side, and fold over and pinch to keep the filling in.
  • Transfer to a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
  • To keep these soft, store in a zip top bag or air proof container.

Nutrition

Calories: 760kcal | Carbohydrates: 100g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 317mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 21g
Keyword : Homemade Strawberry Cereal Bars

www.superhealthykids.com

Natalie Monson

I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.

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189 Comments

I’ve been on the hunt for an all natural “Nutri Grain” recipe since I finally read their ingredient list. We’re trying to rid our home of all preservatives and that nasty Red 40! Thank you so much for this I will be trying it right away!

My kids eat the Trader Joe’s cereal bars for breakfast almost every morning. I can’t wait to try these to see how they go over. Do you think I could sub honey for the agave?

I bought agave for this recipe, but all I could find was agave syrup. Is that what it calls for (or does it call for nectar)? Thanks!!

I would definitely sub raw honey for agave. If you do a little research you can find out why agave isn’t all that healthy after all. Try Foodrenegade.com and search for her agave article. Really interesting and she isn’t the only one saying this.

Thanks for posting! These look incredible. I just made a mashed local apple sauce with cinnamon that be be an amazing filling. My toddler love cereal bars and the organic ones are so pricey.

These look pretty easy! I also like the comment about using an apple purée with cinnamon too. How long would these last? Do you believe they would be fine in the freezer?
Thanks! I love your site by the way. Lots of great recipes and advice.

To add more filling, what if you pipe a larger amount of filling onto parchment paper and freeze it, then wrap it in the crust. It would add a step and require some wait time to finish everything but might solve the problem? Haven’t tried it…just a thought.

Just an idea – what if you freeze “logs” of the filling, and that way you could handle it and wrap the dough around it without it spilling out.

This is my concern as well. They have recently found out that agave really is not good for you as they thought it was. I’m thinking about using honey except honey shouldn’t be given to young toddlers.

My Dr told me that only the raw honey is an issue for under 12 months due to the danger of botulism, but products cooked with it are safe. She said cooking it would eliminate the danger as long as the temp is over 250 (which shouldn’t be a problem). Check with your Dr. just to be sure, but FYI 🙂

Cooking honey DOES NOT make it safe for babies to ingest. Because the bacterium is in spore form heat from baking will not eliminate the danger.

I am prettry sure it would work. I always substitute eggs with flax or psyllium in my cookies or muffins recipes and the results are always great. But the best way to know it for sure, would be to try it 🙂 If you do, please let me know 🙂

Thanks for the recipe! I think it would be worth mentioning, when you recommend using agave nectar, that not all agave nectars are the same. There are many that are so processed and heated to such a degree that they are not any better than HFCS, and thus it is worth researching your agave before choosing to use it.

We’ll be trying it with a slightly reduced quantity of honey here!

Thanks for the recipe! I think it would be worth mentioning, when you recommend using agave nectar, that not all agave nectars are the same. There are many that are so processed and heated to such a degree that they are not any better than HFCS, and thus it is worth researching your agave before choosing to use it.

We’ll be trying it with a slightly reduced quantity of honey here!

these look awesome. a great solution to my non-fresh-fruit-eating-toddler. i wonder if anyone has tried a non-gluten substitute ?

Thank you so much. I’ve been looking for ages for a recipe for a healthy homemade version of NutriGrain bars due to cost and content (as always!). Will use up some frozen blueberries and frozen raspberries for filling. Yum!! You two ladies are fabulous!

For the filling try making them like you would ravioli. I took two equal halves and put filling on one side and put the other piece on top then pinch together all four sides. I dipped my finger in a little bit of water to help hold. I also made them apple cinnamon and they turned out yummy!

Another idea ( I haven’t tried) is to partially dehydrate strawberry leathers, and then fold them in the dough and bake. it seems like you could get a more concentrated strawberry flavor that way.

Nichol & Danielle– definitely try honey- maybe shorten the cooking time just a smidge.
Devin- Applesauce would be a great filling! Nice idea.
Karsyn- I’m sure you can put them in the freezer (if there are any left… they are really too good to save.
Gretchen & Bird- Freezing might work for the filling- also my husband was thinking adding gelatin and waiting for it to solidify a bit…
Kimberly- I’m sure you could. Flax has worked well for me in other baked goods.
Ashley- good idea!!
Jen & Vadana- a gluten free version maybe if you use gluten free all purpose flour?
Leslie- not bad idea- I even have a dehydrator, so I could definitely try it!

A little late and all, but I just came across this post, and am a first time reader of your blog . I quit like what I have seen 🙂 in regards tonth filling, I actually use the drink bottle ice trays (the ones that make stick ice cubes). I mostly use them to partially freeze my oat bar recipes for my children, pop them out and then bake them. They make a great snack bar. Also to make the filling well in advance, and in bulk, it is great to use these ice trays. I made a strawberry sauce and froze in them and popped one in a milkshake for the kids when they wanted strawberry flavour. It also allows for consistent filling amounts 🙂

First Amy you were wondering how to get more strawberrys in well it’s quite simple. don’t wash berrys they don’t like water and it kills they’re flavor. Do 1 1/2 cups of berrys with a good tbsp of starch in a food processo r and only pulse a few times DO NOT cook.Refrigerate then spread .i rolled out dough and pinched each end 1/2 inch spread strawberry filling then carefully closed by pinching to solder together.

These look great. My daughter has Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes and so I am always looking for healthier alternatives for her.

Do you happen to know the nutritional information for these bars?

These look yummy! Here’s an idea to remedy the spilling filling: simmer it on the stovetop and stir in some mashed dates. They thicken the jam very nicely, making it less likely to ooze out of the bars. Plus, it’s a yummy natural sweetener.

Thanks for the inspiration!
I am eating one from my first batch now. I used honey instead of agave & natural bran instead of oats. For my filling I made a dairy free choc & cherry by soaking 1cup of fresh deseeded cherries & 1/2 cup dates in boiling water for 10mins & processed with a stick blender before adding 1tbsp cocoa powder. Yum!

To those asking about freezing – I make these all the time and they freeze great! Lay them out on a cooling rack and make sure they cool completely then I layer them in between parchment paper and freeze them in a gallon size bag. I pull them out individually the night before and let them defrost in the fridge before sending them off to school/daycare with my boys. The dough I use is a little different but I think it should work out the same. I’m looking forward to trying this dough though as I just got my hands on some coconut oil.

About the filling not being enough… I wonder if you could fold it first but leaving one short side open and then pipe the filling in.

I made these on Monday. I LOVE them! My daughter (6) didn’t like the strawberry filling, but liked the “cookie” as she called it. I also used old fashioned oats. The filling wasn’t enough, but after baking, I also realized that I didn’t roll the dough out thin enough. But all in all, I loved them and will definitely make them again trying out different fruit fillings. Thank you!

I just made these and had problems with the dough, I used regular whole wheat flour instead of pastry flour and honey instead of agave so maybe that’s why. It cracked very easily and most of the filling came out when I baked it. I will make again but try something different with the dough next time.

I have no idea if this would work…..but how about putting the strawberry mixture in ice cube trays, then wrapping that bigger frozen chunk in the dough? If I try that, I will let you know how it comes out.

I am in the process of making these and they are to wet to roll out. Not sure what to do! Add more flour? I used instant oats is that right?

Yes! I used instant oats..if it’s wet, I would definitely add more flour. It should be the consistency of sugar cookie- roll out dough.

I absolutely love you blog and the amazing ideas!!! I want to try making these today. Do you know if it is possible to use oat flour rather than pastry flour?

My little one is allergic to egg. Do you think this recipe will work using the 1/4 cup of yoghurt substitution for the binding agent? Thank you!

I don’t have pastry flour. Can I use whole wheat flour instead? Also, can I use just regular old fashioned Quaker oats?

thanks, but can i use old fashioned oats quaker oats? I don’t have quick/instant oats. I have instant oatmeal though…

HI, I just made theses and found the same problem. I put the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes while I made the fruit and it worked a treat.

I am about to try these again, but with a wild blueberry and spinach mixture. Let’s see if it passes the discerning tastes of my 2 year old

For anyone having issues with filling, its because strawberries are low in pectin. Add some cut up apple, mango or pear to add flavor and increase pectin. Also, I like to let my fruit fillings boil for about 10 minutes and then simmer for a good 30-45 minutes before pureeing. This is absolutely essential to getting a good, thick filling consistency. 5 minutes is way too short and thats why its coming out watery for those having issues.

I followed the directions for the dough, but when i rolled it out and cut squares the dough was breaking apart and it was extremely hard to put filing in without it falling apart, or just fold them for that matter. wondering what i did wrong?? i did not use an electric mixer, it says mix, but was unsure if i mix with a wooden spoon as you do with most doughs, or if i was supposed to mix with an electric mixer. This is an awesome idea, just maybe a more detailed description on how to mix and how thick to roll the dough out? should i have mixed the coconut oil and agave with an electric mixer? thanks!

The first time I made this, it was a complete failure. the dough was falling apart, it just didn’t come out right. i followed the directions to a T. But, i then realized that the directions are just general and not specific. because i dib and dap with baking, i decided to just go with what i know and try this again.
So, for people who are not familiar with baking i will tell you what worked for me, because the second time around it came out perfect.
when making the dough, i creamed (used an electric mixer) the coconut oil, agave, egg and vanilla. then took the dry mixture and mixed it in, a little by little, not all at once, with an electric mixer. once the dough was made, i wrapped it in wax paper and put in the fridge for 1 hour. This will make the dough hard so it wont break apart while folding.
for the filing i used blueberries, lemon rind, and a little pineapple juice. put it on the stove for 30 min. breaking it up and letting it simmer. i did not put it through a food processor, i like chunks of fruit.
once the dough was cold, i took it out and put wax paper on top to roll it out, because it gets sticky and i think adding more flour will only make it fall apart even more.
Baked 15 min. like the recipe said, and they came out wonderful!!
Thank you for the recipe!

Great idea @Mama
@lauren- Sara did a great job explaining this in the comment above!
@Sara – thanks for the write- up, and you are right.. sometimes I make too many assumptions when I write recipes. I’ll go add these now, and clear stuff up.

I’m very excited to try these. I have been looking for a cereal bar recipe like “Nutrigrain” bars. I hate that food coloring is put into all of the foods these days. Thanks for sharing!

I’m curious what could I use in substitute for coconut oil? My daughter is allergic to coconut and all of it’s byproducts

These look great, I’m going to purée the fruit and add chia seeds for 30 minutes before filling to get a thicker filling. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

whole wheat flour is much denser than whole wheat pastry flour, so i wouldn’t say they are completely interchangeable…
sometimes i do, but i guess not in this case haha

I would switch the agave for Rice Malt syrup (less fructose) and add a little arrowroot to the fruit purée and heat til thick then cool before spreading, should be able to apply thicker then.

@Amie- I’m sure you could use butter for the coconut oil.
@Nikki- PERFECT! I love that ideas.
@Shannon- I would only keep them for a day or two, and probably in the fridge- because of the fruit.
@Leanne- great idea.

Hi Sherry good question my daughter is also Type 1 you should try the black bean brownies these are not to high in carbs. 🙂 thanks Amy your recipes are great

My 6 yr old daughter’s response was “I like them but can you make them like they are in the store next time.” They are not as sweet as the store brought variety which is partly what we are after. She’ll get used to them! LOL! Tips: don’t cheat on the hour you put the dough in the freezer before working with it. Flour the rolling area well and lightly on top of the dough before you put the wax paper over it. It’s really sticky to work with! Be very careful of not rolling them too thin. I found that my earlier ones had the strawberry filling ooze out of little breaks here and there. I used whole wheat pastry flour. It had a little bitterness to it. I think I’ll try a combo of unbleached white and whole wheat next time. Used a butter knife to carefully scratch them up off of my counter for a few that stuck and that worked well. Used a large thin spatula to carry them to the cookie sheet. I did let the strawberries simmer for 35 minutes and they thickened nicely. Start out with less filling than you think you will need and work from there. Too much and is oozes out from all over. I ran out of the filling and supplemented a few with peach preserves. Yummy!

I tried this last night and was a total failure… not sure what happened but my dough just crumbled into a big mess. Maybe I needed more oil? I have never used coconut oil before, do I need to heat it on the stove first. Any tips would be great, I really wanted to try them!

I made these today for my 1.5 year old who loves the (gross) store-bought kind. She loved them! My dough came out a bit dry and crumbly and it was hard to fold it over, so I ended up using a round cookie cutter to make little “sandwiches” with the fruit filling. It turned out great! I ate one myself and was impressed with how filling they are for a snack. Will definitely be making regularly!

I got some of these cereal bars from Target and they were a banana chocolate flavored.. my daughter love them and I want to recreate them. I’m thinking of using Nutella as the filling and mashing up a banana for the dough.
What should I substitute the banana for?

@Michele -GREAT TIPS! Thanks for sharing.
Jo- the pastry flour is on the same aisle as the regular flour. It will say pastry flour right on it. You can use honey instead of agave, but perhaps lower your cooking temp because honey browns more quickly.
@Emily- I had no idea they had that flavor! Yum. I would use sliced bananas inside the dough and a glob of nutella on top of it! Let me know how it turns out.

Katy- I warmed it up slightly just to get it to cream together, but not melt it. Did you use pastry flour? It’s a bit smoother and finer than regular whole wheat flour and could help as well.

OK, so I made them the other day. Used one mashed banana and halved the amount of coconut oil..I melted dark chocolate chips and piped it in the middle of the dough. The dough turned out and they tasted good.. I think I need to roll the dough out thinner because they didn’t stay shut during the baking process!

I am new to your site. I am really excited about my family transitioning to clean, healthy, all natural eating. I am in the process of removing all processed sweets from my daughter who is 4 years old. She absolutely LOVES fruit bars! I showed this to her and she is excited about making them 🙂
Thank you SOOO much for posting this!!!

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My dough didn’t work AT ALL. I had to use a mix of WW flour and unbleached cake flour b/c I can’t seem to find pastry flour anywhere. Any suggestions on other combos of flour that would work? It just kept tearing whenever I tried to move or fold it.

In one of her comments posted above, the author says that you can substitute canola oil. I will be doing that too! My husband is very allergic to coconuts and all tree nuts, so I don’t keep any coconut/nut products in our house. These are for my one year old, but I always get nervous that daniel will take a bite to be silly with Sarah and then I’ll freak out and run for the epipen! Better safe than sorry!! 🙂 Can’t wait to try this recipe!!

I followed the recipe but the dough was too crumbly so I add 2 tablespoons of softened butter and.one more egg.
I.folded the first two, use ravioli method for a few. And finally on the last one got the idea to use my pampered chef sandwich sealer which worked the best!

i used blueberries (cooked down on stove with sugar, lemon juice , corn starch) then add one envelope of gelatin while still hot.

haven’t tasted it yet (waiting for breakfast tomorrow) , but sure does smell good

What can be used in place of coconut oil? My daughter is allergic to tree nuts. Thanks for any info.

Hi. Did you try the flax and water substitute? Wanted to make these eggless and was wondering how yours turned out. Thanks 🙂

I had such high hopes for these….. and I failed miserably. The crust came out so incredibly dry and rock hard, I couldn’t even roll it out. I moved to Denver a few years ago and cannot seem to get the hang of baking in this high altitude. Any tips? I’d really like to try these again.. someday.

Bummer Jen. Did you use the pastry flour? It you used regular flour, maybe you would need to increase some of the wet ingredients, and then chill the dough.

I used pastry flour per your recipe and mine was hard and crumbly, too!!! Added dribbles of water to make small sections workable. My family loved these and liked helping but wonder if you have a reco for better success next time with the dough?

Hi Amy! Thanks for the reply. I used white whole wheat flour, but not pastry flour. That probably had a lot to do with it. What if I do half Softa cake flour and half white whole wheat? Do you think that might work?

I’ll have to read up on high altitude baking and see if there are any additional changes I should be making, and try again. I really want these to work, since I know my boys would love them! They would be perfect for a healthy grab-and-go breakfast on our way out the door for school, since we always seem to be rushing! 🙂

Hi! I’m wondering if you have the nutritional info on these. I’m curious how much iron these have. Thank you in advance!! Can’t wait to make these.

Do you think they would come out okay if I used Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour instead of the whole wheat?

I used gluten free flour and oats and honey instead of agave and they turned out GREAT.. I would like to make them with more filling though.. Anyone have any ideas on how to fill them fuller??

I just made these and they turned out amazing!! I substituted 1/2 cup melted butter for the cocnut oil (due to not being able to find any coconut oil anywhere) and made apple puree with cinnamon for the filling. I cooked down strawberries using the recipe above but the ones I bought were very sour tasting 🙁 My dough worked perfectly following the instructions Amy gave. A pain to roll out, but I got the hubby off the couch to help with that part. Lol!! Thank you so much for posting this, we love nutri-grain bars in this house so its great having a recipe to make from home.

I will def try this with the strawberry chia jam I also got from this site…an idea might be to freeze the filling in the water bottle ice cube trays…I think it’d be the perfect size and easy to roll the dough around it. 🙂

Look great, try finding a ravioli maker, it has dimples for thae base pastry to fit in, and hold the filling, then you lay the top pastry on and roll a rolling pin over to cut the pockets out, they come in different sizes, from quite small to about half the size of a nutribar. Bake as usual and give two at a time, kids will yhink they have gone to heavan since you are letting them have two.

Here’s what I have done to compensate for more filling. I Use a large round biscuit cutter to make the dough round. I Fill half then fold over & pinch the edges. Occasionally it spills out during baking but generally gives a good filling to crust ratio in each bite. I Leave my fillings chunky with more of a jam or salsa texture to limit excess moisture. The Smoother the filling is the more difficult it is to work with

I would think that instead of folding the pastry, you would want to use 2 pieces of pastry. I would then make the top piece just a tad larger. As you seal the pastry, the larger top would allow for room for extra filling to fill up. Maybe?

just wanted to say how much I love this site. I am easily overwhelmed with recipes online since many call for dozens of ingredients (many I dont have on hand) and/or tools that I don’t have access to. most of the recipes on here are simple & quick & taste SOOO good!

well I tried this, and substituted the agave for raw honey, and I also used Gluten Free “all purpose” flour. my dough was very dry & was hard to work with so I probably should have added a little water but I was nervous to change the recipe any more that I already had. (& in retrospect I should have used GF “pastry flour” instead of “all purpose” but I didn’t have any on hand.)

I also used an organic strawberry jam we had for the filling.

because the dough was crumbly/dry we made “volcano” bars, so they looked square & filling came out of the top/middle.

they didn’t come out looking pretty, but they taste SOOO good, both my 3 & 2 year old love them! next time i’ll add a little natural applesauce to the dough!

THANK YOU AGAIN for such a great site!

I made these and was very happy with them despite some time set backs. I made up the crust (with honey instead of agave), then got an emergency call into work. I was gone for the next 12 hours, then sleeping, then I was sick for several days, so the crust sat in my fridge for 4 days. When I finally got the time to try and finish them, the crust was VERY hard and I couldn’t get it out of the bowl. I let it warm up, and chipped it out. It was dried quite a bit and wouldn’t stick together. I put it back in the bowl, sprinkled it with a couple tablespoons of water and let it sit. I kept doing this until the dough would stick together again, though it was still slightly crumbly. I rolled it out on parchment paper so that I wouldn’t need to worry about flouring my surface. I filled them with my homemade apple butter which is very thick, so I was able to put in quite a bit. My batch only made 9 bars. I am not sure if that is what everyone else got, or if I left it too thick, but my dry crust would not have stuck together had I rolled it any thinner. … But anyway, they are DELICIOUS! I am very excited to make them again.

My crust was really dry too after just 1 hr in fridge and I followed instructions to a T. Water helped, too. LMK if you find a solution!!

I made these tonight and didn’t realize I needed pastry four so I used regular WW flour and I used old fashioned oats instead of quick oats. Initially my dough was dry and crumbly so I added more coconut oil and it wasn’t enough. I added an egg and it was perfect! I should have read the comments and cooked the fruit longer but didn’t and many of them ran out but the flavor was yummy! Can’t wait to play with this recipe more! I forgot to mention that I also substituted agave for honey.

These were great but I need help with the dough ~ followed instructions to a T and our dough was so dry going into fridge and especially coming out after an hour. I kept having to add little dribbles of water to make it workable, and rolling it out came with its issues. Any recommendations for a more workable dough?

My friend and I made these. You’re right about the filling, the dough would break as I folded it. Reading thru here now, I think cutting 2pieces of dough and using them as a top and bottom might make it easier to add a bit more filling without having to fold the dough. Will give it a try next time. Thanks!!.

What a great recipe, thanks! I really like the taste, not too sweet but still attractive to little ones. The dough consistency was easy to work with, even when it was getting warmer. My kids love these bars and I never feel great about letting them eat the processed kind. I think if you want more filling, try cutting your dough into rectangles instead of squares, maybe 3 x 4. With the 4 inch side on top, make another vertical cut in each square but slightly off center. Then place your filling in the center of the smaller side and place the larger side on top allowing for it to hump up over the filling. Does this make sense? It worked well for me and also prevented the dough from cracking where it was straining the keep in the filling or where it was bent. Also, I used all-fruit jelly with great result…am thinking of add a thin layer of peanut butter under the jelly on the next batch. What a great recipe, thank you.

Use ice tray, and freeze strawberry mix. Then place frozen strawberry on the square piece of dough, and fold it.

Does the coconut oil need to be melted? My dough was really dry and crumbly. Was really hard to get to stick together. I ended up just pressing it on bottom of pan and pouring filling on top.

I just made these and they came out really well. I froze the filling in small plastic rectangular containers, and then sliced it to the size that I wanted. The dough was a little crumbly, but, because the filling was solid, I just molded it around the filling. The cooking time was a little longer (about 7 minutes) because of the frozen filling, but the end result was a bar with a lot of filling and my kids loved them. Thanks for the recipe!

Try reducing the filling by simmering a bit. It will thicken for easier folding and concentrate the flavors as well. I love strawberries drizzled with reduced balsamic vinegar, wonder how a balsamic/strawberry filling would taste in these bars, my mouth is starting to water!

i just made these with frozen strawberries. Cooked them in saucepan so the juices would thicken and added a little cornstarch to thicken more. Came out great. Will have to make another batch before school starts.

I wonder if the pampered chef cut and seal would allow for more filling?!?!?!? Excited to make these this weekend! I’ll give it a try!

I haven’t tried it yet, but some of the suggestions to freeze the filling and then pinch the pastry around it sounds good. But I also wonder if you use two layers of pastry instead of folding it over would work.
Can’t wait to try this!

Hi – just tried this recipe and was so excited about it. they taste fine, but my dough turned out too dry – i couldn’t roll them out and cut into bars. mine look more like tacos! any thoughts on that? i did chill it longer than a hour because i got a phone call and forgot about it is that the reason? is the coconut oil supposed to be melted? are oats supposed to be ground up? any comments/help is appreciated!

Oh dang! We are high altitude and always have a little extra flour in our baked goods. Perhaps, just reduce the amount of flour by 1/4 cup. And the oats were not ground up!

Amy, your recipes are fool proof for me. This as most of your other recipes was amazing. I froze the strawberry sauce which worked well. The bars were decadent.

I haven’t tried these yet, just found the recipe and am dying to try it. Might add some veggies, like spinach, to the mix. Perhaps blend up some cooked quinoa to the filling to thicken it up and make it more manageable during the filling process if someone chooses not to freeze first. Plus you’ll get the health benefits of the quinoa. Great recipe to play with and personalize! Thank you! I look forward to viewing the rest of your site!

Have you tried replacing Agave (or honey or whatever sweetener you choose to use) with applesauce? Or, did you try this recipe with only 1/4 cup of sweetener? If so, how did they turn out and taste?

I’m trying to cut out extra sugar where I can for myself and children.

I made these but to simplify and add more filling I turned them into a giant bar and just cut it with a pizza cutter when it was cooled into square bars..Amazing was so good thank you!

Also, look at the amount of sugar in the organic bars you buy…it’s not just natural sugar from the fruit! I mashed frozen strawberries (I figured i’m going to cook them anyways) and added chia seeds to soak overnight. It thickens the filling so that you can add more and it won’t run out.

I LOVE this recipe. Mine don’t look like those ones but still very good. For first time making this kind of recipe happen, I was stoked/so delighted with the outcome. Will be making them again & again , I’m sure. I halved the recipe but still used one whole egg (accident) but it still came out well.
Maple syrup was used instead of the extract.

Thank you so much! 🙂

I should have read the comments all the way to the bottom. I just followed the recipe and it was a messy disaster and I threw it away without bothering to bake it. I knew that I would have to improvise a bit since the instructions don’t mention how thin to roll the dough or what kind of oatmeal, so that would be my recommendation – please add that information to the recipe. The dough was first too hard to roll and then became a crumbly mess and the strawberry sauce was just not thick enough, even with corn starch.

I just made these but my dough was crumbly vs pliable. I had to piece the crust together. Any tips on what I may have done wrong? Thanks!!

5 stars
I didn’t use coconut oil, I used half olive oil and half vegetable oil because we don’t buy coconut oil. And I wanted to vary the filling so I used strawberries and canned crushed pineapple. I got ahead of myself and made some too big. My husband called them “meal bars” but the kids can split those! Turned out great and will (work on making them the right size) work them into our snacks!

5 stars
These are lovely. Thank you for the recipe.

We were short on time, and so pressed a little over half of the pastry into a 9×13, blended up about twice the strawberries (your preference on the filling-to-crust ratio was spot-on), spread it over the crust, then crumbled the remaining pastry dough over the top. Then we baked it as per the recipe and cut it up later. We felt like we were eating dessert for breakfast, only it was healthy. 🙂

I did substitute the agave for a touch of honey and some Truvia.

5 stars
I’ve made batches of these 3 times now and my partner loves them. I only use a total of 400g of dried ingredients as they are much more moist and are now apparently absolutely perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe ?

2 stars
the dough was so crumbly that I couldn’t roll it out. I was able to get 3 squares somewhat rolled out and when I would fold it over it just fell apart. I loved the idea but something didn’t work right for me. Maybe I’m just not a pastry chef.

How do you make your cereal bars look so professional?! Mine always break and I have a hard time keeping the dough together.

Monica, the key seems to be to avoid over-filling the bars. It can definitely be a little tricky! You can also refrigerate the dough for a bit if it starts to feel fragile. I hope this helps!

I made the bars a couple of times before I got it right.
1. The dough can be a little dry and hard to work with. I kept a little cup of water and added a teaspoon full as I made it. And after refrigerated I kept a little cup of water to the side and dipped my fingers in the water a few times to soften it as I needed the dough. I also divided the dough in half finding it was easier to work with. When I rolled the dough out I used flour and wax paper.
I rolled the dough to about
3/16 “ , and after cutting the 3 X 3 sections I used the back side of teaspoon and pressed it into the right and left sides of the dough creating a little
Furrow avoiding the top and bottom edges. This allows you to add a little more filling. It really worked well. I also found that pinching the top and bottom of the cereal bars then the long side worked better.
The last cereal bars made I used blueberries, which worked very well. When I made the filling I used an extra teaspoon of cornstarch to give it a better consistency

I wonder if you could form a “ rectangle” of the filling and then wrap the pastry around & bake . Or Maybe freeze in ice tray & use cubes ?
Therefore getting more filling in the bar.

Have you ever tried adding a green such as spinach, or kale to the filling, mixed with the strawberries? My 17 month old loves the homemade spinach/kale-berry pouches I make for him, and I’m wondering how that fruit-veggie combo would be with this? Always looking for ways to sneak more veggies into my toddler’s diet! Thanks 🙂

Complete disaster! I was so excited to try this recipe too. Normally everything I have tried here has turned out great but not this time. First the dough was to dry. I fixed that by adding some water. Once I got the dough rolled out, even with as little as 1/4 tsp of filling it would press out when I folded them in half. Complete mess. I ended up just putting the filling onto the squares and then crumbling bits over top. They are in the oven so we will see how it goes. Sadly I will not be making this again.

4 stars
Hi I was wondering what I could use instead of oil to make it healthier could I use apple sauce?

Hi Tahira, yes you can try applesauce if you like (I haven’t tried it myself but that substitution usually works.)

I haven’t tried yet but as I sit here eating a Nature’s Bakery version of NutriGrain, which is definitely a more healthy version, I’d love to make my own.

In terms of the filling – could try mixing your fruit with chia seeds and let sit for a few hours or a day. That will thicken it up and make it less oozy. Semi-frozen seems to be a good alternative too or blen with dates (any dried fruit).

5 stars
I just made these with a few variations and they came out great. I swapped vegetable oil for the coconut oil and maple syrup for the agave syrup. Since I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour I used half regular whole wheat flour and half white flour. I cooked 3 small apples and made simple applesauce with some brown sugar and a little water and cornstarch. The recipe didn’t say out big to roll out the dough. I rolled it about the size for pie dough for a 10″ pie. I think these are even better than the store bought ones that I’ve just learned are contaminated with heavy metals.

5 stars
Could I make a large amount of the dough then freeze it for future use? I find that making the dough takes a long time and want a quick snack that we can put in the oven anytime. The bars are delicious though!

5 stars
I made it! They turned out delicious!

I subbed the agave since I didn’t have any for half a cup of brown sugar and half a cup of water. Also used applesauce for the filling. Thank you!

I can never find pastry flour in the store. Any ideas of alternative flours to use or where to find pastry flour?

Haven’t made it yet but really want to know if I can use frozen berries. We keep acting all the fresh on soo quickly ☺️