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These homemade Blueberry Cereal Bars make a great on the go breakfast or midday snack. They are kid-friendly, freezer-friendly and easy to make with simple pantry ingredients.
My kids love granola bars, it's one of their favorite snacks. If you look closely at the labels, some of those bars can be loaded with way too much sugar and ingredients I can't even pronounce. That's why I like to make recipes from scratch, like these homemade cereal bars. They are super easy to make, don't have too much sugar-just enough, and most importantly are super delicious!
The kids also enjoy these other healthy homemade snacks: Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Squares, Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies and Monster Cookie Protein Bites.
This post was originally posted on 03/14/2016 and updated on 05/28/2021.
Blueberry Cereal Bars Ingredients:
- Salted Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Whole Wheat Flour
- Old Fashioned Oats
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Blueberry Jam
Substitution Suggestions:
- Whole Wheat Flour: You can substitute unbleached all purpose flour. I like to use whole wheat flour because it adds an extra depth of flavor and is more nutrient dense. To make the bars gluten free you can use a gluten free flour made for baking.
- Old Fashioned Oats: You can substitute quick cooking oats if needed, but note that the texture of the bars will be slightly different.
- Blueberry Jam: This recipe is great because you can use whatever flavor of jam you like or have on hand.
How to Make Homemade Blueberry Oatmeal Bars
- In a stand mixer or with hand beaters, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy scrapping down the sides of the bowl to incorporate everything.
- Mix in the dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, rolled oats, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined and crumbly.
- Pat a little over half of the dough into a greased or parchment lined 9x13 baking dish.
- Add the jam and spread it out evenly over the dough.
- Crumble the remaining dough over the jam and lightly press it down.
- Bake the bars uncovered in a preheated 350°F oven for 35-40 minutes until the top and edges are golden brown.
- Let bars cool completely, slice and serve or store for later.
Tips for Blueberry Oatmeal Bars
- Line the baking dish with parchment paper and leave an inch overhand on the long edges of the dish. This will help pull the bars out all at once and make slicing a lot easier.
- Always fluff your flour before measuring. This will help keep the dough from getting too dense.
- To get 16 equal size bars, cut in half lengthwise and then cut each half in half creating 4 pieces. Then cut each piece into 4 bars.
How to Store Blueberry Bars
Once the bars are completely cooled, slice them into 16 bars. Then place them in an air tight container between layers of wax paper. Bars will stay fresh for 3-4 days at room temperature.
How to Freeze Homemade Cereal Bars
Once the bars are cooled and sliced there are a few different ways to freeze them. You can add them to a freezer safe container or zip top bag between layers of wax paper. Or you can individually wrap them in plastic wrap them place them in freezer safe container or zip top bag. Wrapping them in plastic makes them easier to pull from the freezer and pack in lunches for the kids. These bars will last in the freezer for 3-4 months.
More Healthy Kid-Friendly Snacks:
- Chickpea Peanut Butter Bites
- Peanut Butter Apple Sandwiches with Granola
- Homemade Granola
- Fruit Nachos
- Chocolate Mini Donuts
Blueberry Cereal Bars
Ingredients
- ¾ cups salted butter, softened (1½ sticks)
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup whole wheat all purpose flour
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup blueberry jam, or your favorite jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease or line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in mixing bowl with hand beaters, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the flour, oats, soda and salt and mix just until combined and crumbly.
- Pat a little over half of the dough into the bottom of prepared baking dish.
- Spread the jam evenly over the dough.
- Crumble the remaining dough over the jam and lightly press it down.
- Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes until edges and top are golden brown.
- Let cool completely before slicing and storing.
Rebekah says
Used this recipe with granola instead of Oatmeal and didn't used jam. Worked great to make basic granola bars, but letting it completely cool. Made it hard to cut probably because of the granola. I lost at least a bars worth that crumbled away when I cut it. Next time I will try to cut it while it's still a little warm and soft.
Jennifer Jones says
Flavor was delicious, but was not really bars. Any suggestions on how to get bars? It was more like a cobbler
Heather Warburton says
Make sure the crust is packed nice and firm on the bottom and that they are being baked long enough. Let me know if that helps!