Next Post
Honey Toasted Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Boozy Honey Buttercream Frosting
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Making Homemade Strawberry Nutri Grain Bars today!
And also, I am home and could not be happier!
Not that I did not like Oregon this year, because I did. The weather was incredible the whole forty-two days my family and I were there. Well, I guess there were two days in the middle with tons and tons of low clouds, fog and pure misery. Technically, I guess forty day were gorgeous out of the forty-two.
Even though it is like me to complain, I can’t. I love the sun and blue skis and that is all I saw. Honestly, I barely saw any clouds. It was awesome.
Although, I was inside half the time cooking, but I would have been doing that anywhere, no matter what the weather was. I am always cooking.
Always.
With that said though, I am still so happy to be home.
With all my stuff, my giant kitchen windows and three refrigerators. Yeah, three. Again, it’s awesome.
What? Is three fridges a lot? My family has always had three for as long as I can remember. Big family means lots of food and stocking up on things when they are on sale. It just works, really well.
I almost always have backups for my back ups.
I know, I am so spoiled over here. But I love it.
Oh and um, hello?
The grocery store!!
I have one a mile down the street and another one ten minutes away. Plus, TARGET! It’s been way too long since I stepped foot in Target. I miss Target. It’s time.
Bring on the red!
Now that I got my excitement out, let’s talk about school.
Ugh.
My least favorite topic on this planet.
Alright, that’s a total exaggeration, but you all know school was not my thing. Which is why I raced through it and graduated early, went to the local college and did what I needed to do and said “See ya”!
I may done with school days, but my younger siblings are still chugging on through. Ahh, well sort of. Red and Kai? They barely go, but hey, there is always little Asher who LOVES school to death and could not be more excited to start going a full day kindergarten this year. How can this be, she is not even five yet?
I am pretty sad she is growing up so darn fast. I wish she could just be my little side kick forever. Soon she’ll probably be too cool for me. And trust me, she already has a lot of attitude. It’s scary.
Anyway, I was thinking these bars would be the perfect thing to pack in lunches or to have as after school snacks.
Growing up I used to love Nutri Grain bars in my lunch or as a snack, which is pretty weird since I am not really a baked fruit girl or a jam/jelly girl for that matter. But for some reason I loved those bars……until I realized they are pretty processed and full of sugar.
Not cool.
Enter the homemade strawberry Nutri Grain bar!
It took me three tries to get the recipe right, but the third one was spot on. Super soft and moist, just like the packaged ones. Except with real strawberries and oatmeal.
The fresh strawberry filling is incredible, not so sweet that is gives you a headache, but sweet enough to make you say, “Mmm”. The dough that you are going to wrap the filling up in is almost like a moist muffin. It is so soft, slightly chewy from the oatmeal, with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon.
I am telling you, it’s spot on.
My mom, Asher and I have concluded they may not look as good as the real ones, but they taste a million times better.
Oh and Asher wanted me to share with you how she will be packing these up in her Frosty the Snowman lunch box and taking them to school.
She is very excited.
Oh, and so is Frosty, it just snowed up on those mountain tops.
Homemade Strawberry Nutri Grain Bars
Servings: 10 bars
Calories Per Serving: 290 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
- 3/4 cup Old Fashioned Oats
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, grated
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup strawberry jam, homemade or store-bought
- buttermilk, for brushing
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, and salt together. Add the butter and toss to coat. Add the egg yolks, yogurt, honey, and vanilla and mix until combined, adding 1 tablespoon of cold water at a time until the dough comes together and forms a ball. 2. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll out into a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough into about 4" x 4 1/2" squares. Place a heaping tablespoon of jam down the center of each square, leaving about 1/4 inch border. Brush the borders with buttermilk. Fold one side up and over the filling and then pinch the dough together at either end. Do the same for the other side and use your fingers to seal the dough together at the seams. Carefully roll the bar over and place the seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough.3. Cover the bars and place the baking sheet in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Once chilled, brush the tops of the bars lightly with buttermilk and transfer to the oven, bake on the middle rack for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top, do not over bake.4. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer the bars to a glass container with a lid, layering them between pieces of parchment paper. This will trap in heat and moisture, and slightly steam the bars, ensuring they remain soft. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or in the fridge for longer. These can also be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen, thaw for 1 hour.
Quick Strawberry Jam
Servings: 1 cup
Calories Per Serving: 565 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1/3 cup honey
- juice of 1 lemon
- pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- 1. Add the strawberries, honey, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt to a medium size pot set over high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, once boiling use a potato masher or fork to break down and mash the blueberries. Continue to cook for 5-8 minutes or until the jam has reduced and thickened by half. Remove from the heat and let cool. Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Notes
Nutritional values are based on the whole rceipe
How is it already back to school time? Where did summer go?!?
This post was originally published on August 11, 2013
I need to immediately learn how to make these! My toddler is eating me out of house and home in granola bars!!
Haha!! Sounds like you need these bars! LOL!
Thanks so much, Nancy!
Girl, these are brilliant! My brother and I went through booooooooooxes of nutri grain bars when we were kiddos.
Thank you, Ashely!
Three refrigerators!? I’m totally jelly 🙂 These bars look delicious!
Thanks Jennifer! Oh and yes, I know the 3 fridges is completely excessive…..but I love them!
When the recipe calls for oatmeal, does that mean the dry oats or cooked oatmeal?
Hi Hannah,
Use dry oats, not oatmeal. Sorry for the confusion and I hope you love these!
So pinning this! I am not a nutrigrain girl, but these look thicker, juicier and just plain better than the store bought. My mouth is watering and like I said, nutrigrain bars do not do that to me. Quick question: What kind of oats did you use (old fashioned or quick) ? I’m going to try this with blueberries – cannot wait!
Hi Mary,
I used old fashioned oats, but whatever you have should work fine. Blueberries will be so good!! Hope these turn out awesome for you and thank you so much for your kind words!
I made these tonight and the dough and filling were delicious! However, I don’t think I beat my dough long enough (?) because it didn’t hold together very well at all. Mine didn’t turn out near as neat as yours (cracked all over the place:) but they sure do taste good! The blueberry version turned out great (I also used a 1/4 cup sugar, too) but I think I need to do something different with the dough so it holds together next time. Thanks!
Hi Mary!!
Thanks for giving these are try and I am glad you liked the taste!! Sorry to hear yours cracked on you! I live in a really dry climate, so I am surprised to hear yours cracked. The first batch I made cracked, but then I added the greek yogurt to moisten things up. Did you place the bars in the freezer before baking (this is so important)? Were you gentle with dough before baking or did the dough have any cracks before they went in the oven?
My advice would be just make sure the dough is pretty smooth and well combined before you start rolling and to also try and be gentle and make sure there are no cracks before the bars go into the oven.
Thanks again and I hope the next batch turns out prettier!
These are seriously amazing!! I love the way you think!
Thanks Hannah!
They are just so creative, clever, and they look so healthy and flavorful and I wish they could appear on my breakfast table right now!
I wish I could send you some!!
Thanks so much, Averie!
Strawberry Nutri Grain bars were my FAAAAAAAAAAAVORITE when I was a kid! I have fond memories of eating them after soccer practice. OH this is so cool, I’m going to go pin it all over the intraverse! 😉
Haha! Thanks so much for all the pinterest love!! You are the best, Julia!
These look so good! I was never actually a fan of Nutri-Grain bars, but I AM a fan of anything that reminds me of a handpie, so these look like winners in my book. And a good way to use up all those summer strawberries right now!
Tieghan, I ate these all the time when I was younger! Mostly on the way to swim practice. I could house an entire box within 2-3 days. Loved them so much! Strawberry or raspberry were my favorite kinds. These are a complete replica of my favorite snackbar. 🙂 I gotta try your copycat version my dear. Pinning!
Thank you so much, Sally! I loved these for snacks too and went through my fair share of boxes as well!
Thanks for the pinterest love!
These are awesome Tieghan! I have been dying for a copycat nutri grain bar!! Totally pinned and making sometime!
Thank you so much, Dorothy!!
I love your passion for cooking! I’m always looking for great snack recipes and will be making these today. Great blog. Thanks!
Thank you, Leanne! I hope these work out great for you and you love them!
These are brilliant! They look exactly like the real thing! I live that you gave Nutrigrain bars a homemade makeover, & I can’t wait to make these for my little ones. Pinning! 😀
Thank you so much!! I hope you guys love these!!
Love this! Good job recreating these. And healthy too!
Thank you so much, Norma!!
Love these! I seriously used to live on Nutri-grain bars when I was little. I remember always eating them after dance class or swimming lessons. My mom likes to tell the story of when I was three, I was sitting in my highchair watching Barney when my Nutrigrain bar dropped on the floor and I yelled “Oh sh*t!” at the top of my lungs. Good times, good times. 😉 Can’t wait to give these a try!!
LOL!! Love you story!! Thanks Sophie! Hope you love loves these just as much as the boxed ones!