Strawberry Oat Streusel Bars

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Strawberry Oat Streusel Bars on a wooden table

Strawberry oat streusel bars are bursting with fresh strawberry flavor. The base is crumbly and tender with sweetened oats and pecans and the top is nothing but buttery streusel goodness. Best of all, these take just 15 minutes to prep using a food processor!

Wohletz Farm Strawberries on the vine

Nothing offers the promise of summer like a field full of fresh strawberries. And, in my experience, there are few better ways to spend a warm May morning than with your mouth full of sun-warmed fruit, fingers died red from picking and more fresh strawberries than you can carry (thank goodness for golf carts).

Wohletz Farm Strawberries

Last week I piled Molly and Clara in the car, recruited my sisters Veronica and Rachel as berry pickers for the morning and we all drove 40 minutes out to Lawrence, Kansas where the automated message at Wohletz Farm Fresh promised that the berry fields were full and ready for picking.

Wohletz Farm Strawberries

It was one of those perfect late spring mornings. Nearly chilly when we arrived just before 10am, but warm enough for shorts by the time we left. Molly and Clara were confused by all the people, enchanted by the hay bale playground at the entrance to the picking field and then amazed that they could actually eat the red fruits growing out of the ground. And eat them they did!

We picked over 40 pounds in about an hour. (Here’s my sister Veronica with one of our full trays.)

Wohletz Farm Strawberries

I spent the entire drive home smelling those berries warming in the sun in the back seat and scheming about all of the things we would make with them.

a box of Wohletz Farm Strawberries

And the final tally is that we froze about 20 pounds, between all members of our family probably ate about 15 pounds in pure, minimally-fussed-with glory and used 5 pounds for baking and/or topping angel food cake.

Wohletz Farm Strawberries

For the past week, every time I ask Molly and Clara to guess what we’re doing that day, the first thing they say is “pick stt-aw-berries.” We might have to go back for more.

But not until we’ve polished off the last of the Strawberry Oat Bars I’d been testing in anticipation of the fresh-picked bounty.

Strawberry Oat Streusel Bars on a wooden table

These sweet, crumbly bars are inspired by an old favorite recipe for Raspberry Squares from the Cook’s Illustrated book American Classics. Their version uses a base of crushed pecans and oats which, on several occasions when I lived overseas and had no kitchen appliances, I chopped obsessively by hand. (Now I just toss it all in the food processor and it’s done in 5 minutes.)

Streusel Bars on a wooden table

The fresh strawberry filling is left almost entirely alone (though you can add a bit of sugar if you want), so it really shines through. Every bite tastes like the late spring sun and the transition to summer.

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streusel bars on a wooden table
4.50 from 2 votes

Strawberry Oat Streusel Bars

Sweet, buttery and delicious - strawberry oat streusel bars have a rich, tender base with oats. They're filled with fresh strawberries and finished with streusel topping. Perfect for your next picnic, barbecue or potluck!
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
Total: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 16

Equipment

  • Food Processor
  • 9 x 9 Baking Dish
  • Parchment Paper or Aluminum Foil

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 cup Pecan Halves
  • 1/2 cup Rolled Oats (sometimes labeled Old Fashioned Oats)
  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed Light Brown Sugar
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 12 Tbsp cold Unsalted Butter
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
  • 3 cups Fresh Strawberries (substitute 1 1/2 cups of any berry jam)

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350 F / 177 C. Line a 9x9 baking dish (an 8x8 will work too) with a piece of parchment paper or foil (this will help you to remove the bars after cooking) and spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
  • In the bowl of a food processor, pulse pecans and oats until finely ground. Add flour, both sugars and salt and pulse a couple times to combine.
  • Slice butter into 12 pieces and add to food processor. Pulse just until the butter is broken up into small pea-sized pieces. Transfer 1 cup of the mixture to a bowl for the streusel topping and place the bowl in the fridge.
  • To the remaining dough in the food processor, add egg, vanilla and baking soda. Blend until the egg is fully incorporated. Pour the dough into prepared baking pan. Wet your hands with tap water (this will prevent the dough from sticking) and press it evenly into the pan.
  • Bake crust until starting to turn golden brown on top, 10 to 12 minutes.
  • While the crust bakes, slice strawberries. If you think the slice berries could benefit from a bit of extra sweetness, toss them with 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar. (Fresh picked berries are usually quite sweet, but many store-bought varieties are much better with a tiny bit of extra sugar.)
  • Top the pre-baked crust with sliced strawberries and sprinkle the refrigerated streusel over top.
  • Bake until the strawberries are bubbly and jam-like and the streusel is golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes more.
  • Let cool to room temperature before slicing.
  • Bars will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 216kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 61mg | Potassium: 97mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 282IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Author: Jess Smith via Inquiring Chef
Cost: $3.00
Calories: 216
Keyword: berry dessert, easy snack, family friendly, potluck recipe, strawberries
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And as if my little helpers didn’t get enough of the strawberries in the field, they sure cleaned up the strawberry streusel oat bars.

Strawberry Oat Streusel Bars_Clara

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About Jess Smith

Jess is the recipe creator and photographer at InquiringChef.com. She spent nearly a decade as the Chief Recipe Developer for the award-winning meal planning app Cook Smarts. Her colorful, healthyish recipes have been featured in popular online publications including Parade, Hallmark, and HuffPost.

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2 Comments

  1. It looks like you and your family had a wonderful time strawberry picking! I love the pictures of your girls with the strawberries. The last time I went strawberry picking was many years ago with my mom. I kept eating strawberries straight from the field while she picked them and filled our basket. Whoops! They were so good though. This recipe looks incredible. My mom is visiting for a week from Nebraska, and I have almost two pounds of strawberries in my fridge (minus what Alastair ate!). This recipe would be a perfect dessert for one of our many family dinners during her visit. Thanks for sharing!