Known as “carrés aux fraises”, these strawberry oat bars belong to the long list of baked goods the French love to whip up in the Spring. They yield a tangy homemade filling made of fresh strawberries sandwiched between a crisp and buttery oat crumble.
This is a delicious hand-held treat to be served for dessert or packed up to enjoy at a sunny picnic.
Spring in Brittany is celebrated for many reasons – with one of the top ones being the arrival of fresh, local strawberries!
Strawberry season is massive here, and you’ll often find many several meter long queues of people waiting to get their hands on a basket of these ruby red jewels.
I am of course very fond of strawberries and make it a point to enjoy this fleeting season as much as possible, by enjoying fresh, cooked and baked strawberries. Whenever I yearn for an elegant dessert, my go-to is the Classic French Strawberry Tart – it never disappoints. But for when I just want a quick and convenient treat, these oats bars are absolute winners.
Strawberry Oat Bars
These strawberry oat bars are such a fun and delicious treat to make. The buttery crumble is made with a good amount of oats, which makes it perfectly crumbly. It is used as both the base and the topping of these bars, and is whipped up in just a few minutes.
For the filling, I make a quick strawberry “preserve” with fresh strawberries, sugar and cornstarch. Making the strawberry filling from scratch (vs. store-bought preserves or jam) really makes a difference here. This filling is a juicy, slightly tangy, less sweet and plenty more vibrant option than store-bought alternatives. It allows the strawberry flavors to shine beautifully.
Ingredients you’ll need for these Strawberry Oat Bars
- Flour. All-purpose flour is the way to go here.
- A pinch of salt. To enhance the flavors.
- Oats. You can opt for quick or regular oats.
- Sugar. I love to make this recipe with cane sugar, but brown sugar (light or dark) works great too.
- Ginger powder. A pinch of ginger powder pairs very nicely with the buttery crumb and the tang of the strawberry filling.
- Baking powder. One teaspoon of baking powder adds a little lift to the crumb.
- Unsalted butter. I almost always prefer to use unsalted butter when baking to control the amount of salt in the recipe. The butter needs to be very cold and cubed. I like to cube the butter and pop it back into the fridge for about 30 minutes before using it, to ensure it is properly cold.
- For the filling: strawberries, cornstarch and sugar. For these bars, we will make a quick strawberry filling over the stovetop made with strawberries, sugar and cornstarch. The mix boils for just a few minutes to become a liquid and then thickens just lightly. Don’t worry if you find the filling is too liquid when you pour it atop the bottom crust, it will cook more as it bakes and thickens significantly as it cools. Once completely cooled, the bars are cut in clean slices, and the filling won’t ooze out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I substitute your strawberry filling with already-made strawberry jam?
If strawberries aren’t in season, yes you can use strawberry jam for the filling. Although note the bars will be significantly sweeter.
If strawberries are in season, I highly recommend you take the extra 10 minutes to make this homemade filling. It is less sweet and sticky than jam, and allows the taste of the in-season strawberries shine more.
How long do these squares keep?
If you have any leftovers, pack the squares into an airtight container on the counter. They keep very well for up to 3 days.
Audrey’s Tips:
- This recipe is best made in a 9×9-in (22,8cm x22,8cm) baking dish.
- To guarantee the crumble top and base are crisp and chunky, I use very cold cubed butter (vs. melted butter). To blend the butter with the dry ingredients I like to use my hands to mix until just incorporated with pea-size bits of butter still visible. You can also opt for a pastry cutter or food processor.
- A good quality butter will go a long way: opt for a European butter with a higher fat content.
- Even though these oat bars are delicious to day of, I think they’re actually better the next day as the flavors blend and the two textures (crumble and filling) “merge” even better.
I hope you’ll love this Strawberry Oat Bars as much as I do! If you have any questions, please leave a comment.
More strawberry recipes you may like:
- Classic French Strawberry Tart (Tarte Aux Fraises)
- Strawberry Flaugnarde
- Strawberry Rhubarb Galette
- Fresh Strawberry Moelleux Cake
- Strawberry Charlotte Cake
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Strawberry Jam
- Classic French Fruit Tart (Tarte aux fruits frais)
8 comments
Hi Audrey:
I made this delicious dessert. I may have used too many strawberries, since they were frozen when I measured them, I put in a few extra. I did bake it for about 30 minutes longer, since the top never really got even golden. Also the top didn’t melt together like I thought it would, I used the right amount of unsalted butter. Nevertheless, it is absolutely delicious! We’re having some tonight with vanilla ice cream!
Hello, Kim! Thanks for reviewing and so glad you enjoyed the taste of these bars. 🙂
The moisture in the frozen strawberries might be the culprit for some of the issues, as they may caused extra steam in the oven so the top wouldn’t “melt down” and brown. That’s my best guess… It does happen. You can also lightly pat the topping down before baking as well, for a little extra “help”. But my best guess is the moisture, so perhaps cooking down the berries a touch more might be the key.
By the way, I haven’t done it myself, but now I am definitely going to… A square with vanilla ice cream, oh my 🙂
Hi Audrey,
I wandered on to your site and discovered this recipe that uses one of my favorites: strawberries. As a novice baker I knew I needed to try this one. I followed the recipe to the letter ad the result was a delicious strawberry snack the my lady and both enjoyed. The tip on cooling the butter after cubing was one I had not heard before and it worked well. Bookmarked this site.
Hi David! Thank you so much for this great feedback, I am so glad you enjoyed these oat bars, they’re truly a delicious recipe to showcase strawberries.
I was anxious to make this as I have a lot of strawberries from my garden. Unfortunately I felt that the strawberries were overwhelmed by the crusts. If I make them again I will double the amount of strawberry filling.
Absolutely, Linda… If you like it strawberry filled, there is absolutely nothing wrong with adding more strawberries 🙂 Just keep an eye as it may require more baking time. I actually made a version the other day and added some apricots to it as well, I really like how that turned out.
Great recipe!! Have made as written four times or so already then once with rhubarb I had leftover from making a pie. I’m already thinking this would be great with pears that come later this summer adding cardamom in the crust! Or cherry with almond perhaps! I love the oatmeal in the recipe. We use einkorn flour so that gives it a nice flavor as well. Thank you again for a great, tried and true recipe!! My son and husband love these!!
Great to hear, Veronica, thank you so very much! I absolutely LOVE your suggestions, especially the pear and cardamom… I will absolutely have to give those a try when the pears hit market stalls again. Appreciate you leaving a comment and thrilled your family enjoys these so much 🙂