My daughter adores apple cereal bars. In fact, she would live off apple cereal bars and orange juice if I let her. Fruit bars or cereal bars are found alongside muesli bars in the supermarket and they are basically an oven baked pastry tube filled with a pureed fruit. Since my daughter likes to have a fruit cereal bar in her lunchbox every day it was time to try making my own and this Oven Baked Fruit Bars Recipe was born!
I started out making an apple filling by peeling and slicing 2 granny smith apples and cooking them with a teaspoon of caster sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat until they were soft. I added a drop of vanilla extract at the end for added flavor and then let the apple puree cool for a few minutes. Homemade apple puree is easy to make and great to cook with.
If you don’t want to make your own filling just could use a homemade fruit jam. You can pick up yummy, homemade jams at farmer’s markets and school fetes.
A word of warning about the pastry – it can be crumbly. If your pastry is too crumbly to roll out it is probably too dry so try adding a few drops of water and kneading it gently.
Oven Baked Fruit Bars
A simple oven baked fruit bar recipe - taste just like the fruit cereal bars from the store! Great snack for kids.
Ingredients
- 130g butter
- 30g raw sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups wholemeal self raising flour
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- Filling: Pre-prepared fruit puree (see notes below) or your choice of jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
- Combine the sugar and butter in a large bowl or food processor.
- Add the egg and mix well.
- Add both flours, mix until a thick dough forms.
- Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
- Once the pastry is chilled, roll it out onto a floured bench top to about 3 or 4mm thick.
- Use a knife to cut the pastry into rectangles 8cm x 10cm.
- Place a teaspoon full of fruit filling down one long side of the pastry rectangle. Leave a little border so the pastry will stick together.
- Carefully fold the rectangle in half to cover up the filling. Gently press down the edges of the pastry rectangle to seal in the filling.
- Transfer the bar to a baking tray. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling.
- Bake the bars in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden.
- Allow the bars to cool on a cooling rack before eating and enjoying!
Notes
- Make the apple filling by peeling and slicing 2 granny smith apples and cooking them with a teaspoon of caster sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat until they are soft. Add a drop of vanilla extract at the end for added flavor and let the apple puree cool before adding to the pastry.
- If your pastry is too crumbly to roll out it is probably too dry so add a few drops of water and knead it gently.
- A wonderful addition to school lunch boxes.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 3309Total Fat: 374gProtein: 4g
For more great snack recipes for kids, check out these ideas;