February Cooking for 2: Fruit Crisp Bars

 

Crumbl Cookies has come to our town.  We went there out of curiosity.  The cookies taste ok, but homemade are definitely better.  The best thing about buying a cookie is that you can get one and be done.  It is a hefty price to pay, but you don't have to worry about cookies hanging around for days tempting you.  I decided that this month I would focus on Cooking for 2.  Hopefully it will go better than last month.  I had surgery last month and too the wind out of my sails in regards to blogging.  

Cookies have been on my mind.  I decided to make a simple cookie first.  These taste kind of like a fruit crisp, kind of like a cross between a granola bar and a Nutri-grain bar.  Only, they don't have all of the preservatives that store bought snacks have.  You can use jam or jelly for the inside.  They are easy to make and taste good.  Once you have one, you won't want to buy any more of those bars from the store.  These have fresh ingredients and you know just what is in them.  We have had an abundance of jelly that we made from our garden and this will help to use some of it up.

Recipe:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons)

1/4 cup wheat flour  (you can substitute white flour if you want, but whole grain is healthier)

2 Tablespoons white sugar

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Filling:  3 Tablespoons of Jelly or Jam of your choice

Preheat oven to $350 degrees.  Grease a small pan to cook your cookie/bar in.  I used a 4 1/2 inch round metal container that we had in the house and it worked well.  

Soften (not melt) butter just a little or let it set out for a bit before you make this so it softens on its own.  Mix with oats, flour, white sugar and brown sugar.  It turns out kind of like a streusel.  Put a little over half of the mixture into your oven safe pan/container.  Put 3 Tablespoons jelly or jam of your choice on top and spread it evenly.  Sprinkle the rest of the streusel type mixture on top and press down gently.  

Bake for 28 to 40 minutes (depending on how hot your oven is) until lightly brown on top and looks done.  

Remove from the oven.  Let cool and enjoy!