Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Bars Recipe
The mix of sweet shortbread-like dough with a cheeky layer of chocolate, another oozing layer of sweet raspberries topped with more crumbly golden goodness makes these Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Bars incredible!
Servings: 16 squares
Calories: 300kcal
Ingredients
Oatmeal crumble base and topping
- 350 g plain flour (all-purpose)
- 70 g rolled oats don’t use quick or instant oats
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 50 g brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 220 g unsalted butter cold and cubed
Raspberry Filling
- 375 g raspberries frozen (see notes to thaw before using)
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 15 g cornflour (corn starch)
- ½ fresh lemon juice
- 150 g dark chocolate 70% chopped coarsely
Instructions
Crumble Base and Topping
- Prepare the baking pan. Grease and line with parchment paper a square baking pan 23x23cm (9x9inch). It's important to line the pan with paper so that once the bars are baked, it's easy to remove them from the pan and slice them up. Leave an overhang of paper to use as a sling to lift the bars out. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Add dry ingredients to a bowl. Add the flour, both sugars, rolled oats, baking powder and salt and mix together.
- Add in cold butter. Add the cold cubed butter and rub the mixture and butter together between your fingertips. You want to achieve a mixture that resembles fine breadcrumbs, but it also has some large clumped pieces.
- Add in the beaten egg. Pop the lightly beaten egg into the bowl and mix in with a spoon. Make sure all the dry bits at the bottom of the bowl are mixed in. Use your fingers to squeeze together the mixture into clumps.
- Add half of the crumble mix to the baking pan and flatten. Pour half the crumble mix into the prepared pan. Use your fingertips to level it off and press flat into the base of the pan. Or use the base of a measuring cup or glass to get a super flat base. Set aside.
Chocolate Raspberry Filling
- Mix raspberry filling ingredients together. Combine the thawed raspberries, sugar, lemon juice and cornflour into a medium bowl and mix until combined. (See notes below on thawing raspberries)
- Layer fruit onto the base pan. Spoon the raspberry filling onto the crumble base and in the pan and level with the back of the spoon.
- Sprinkle over chocolate. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate all over the raspberry filling. Set aside about a quarter of the chopped chocolate so that it can be sprinkled over the oatmeal topping.
- Add the remaining oatmeal crumble and bake. Scatter your remaining crumble mixture over the chocolate and raspberries, and then scatter over the remaining chocolate. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until the crumble is golden brown and the raspberry filling is oozing and bubbling.
- To serve. Remove from the oven and cool for a couple of hours to chill sufficiently and not fall apart when you lift them out of the baking pan. Wait until the filling has set before using the paper sling to lift the bars out of the pan onto a chopping board and slicing and serving. (Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours for nice and neat slices).
Notes
Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.
To store: Store these Raspberry Oatmeal Bars in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
To freeze: Wrap each slice in parchment paper and plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or heat in the oven at 110C (230F) for 20 minutes or so.
To thaw frozen raspberries. Place frozen raspberries in a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl and leave at room temperature to thaw. The excess moisture will drip through into the bowl below and you can discard this liquid. To speed up the thawing process, run the raspberries in the sieve under hot water for a minute or so and then set over a bowl until completely thawed.
TIP 1: Paper sling. Leaving an overhang with the parchment paper helps to lift the bars out of the pan when they are cooled.
TIP 2: Use a cup or glass to flatten the oatmeal crumble base. To get that super flat crumble base to your bars, the base of a glass or measuring cup pressed firmly onto it helps give the professional finish.
TIP 3: Crumble chunks. Who doesn't love some gnarly crunchy crumbs on the top of the bar. Just squeeze some of the mixture together when layering the crumble mix over the raspberry filling.
Nutrition
Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 72mg | Potassium: 87mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 366IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg