Breakfast Oatmeal Bar Fail

I present to you the breakfast oatmeal bar from Anja's food 4 thought.I have no idea what I was expecting from this recipe, but this was not it. I was not pleased with the results. I made them because I thought it might be a great low sugar snack as the only sugar from these bars is the sugars in the dried fruit.

I think part of my problem with these bars was that I really like sugar. It's not like I need a snack that is heavy with sugar. I just want something with a little bit of sweet. With these bars, I couldn't taste any sugar at all. They were really quite bland.

Also, I think I was anticipating them to be a crispy oatmeal bar. They were chewy instead. Very Very Chewy. I would even go so far as to say that the middle was soggy. This was not from my lack of trying. I cooked the bars for 90 minutes before I gave up. After an hour in the oven, I cut them into bars, smashed them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and baked them for the last 30 minutes. (As you can see in the photo above.) I still didn't like them.

For some reason Blockette did. In fact, she loved them so much gobbled them all up. So maybe the bars just weren't suited to my palate. I'd say, try these bars at your own risk. They weren't for me, but maybe you will like them as much as my daughter did.

BREAKFAST OATMEAL BARS from Anja's Food 4 Thought
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts (e.g. almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pecans, peanuts)
3/4 cup dried fruit (e.g. dates, apricots, raisins, prunes, cranberries)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375F. Line 25x25cm baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients. Pour wet into dry ingredients and stir to combine. Let the mixture soak for 10 minutes. Then pour into prepared dish and press down evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cut into squares while still hot. Let cool completely before storing in airtight container.