Double up strawberry apple bars {vegan + no added sugar}

I am rather proud of these bars. They are sweetened entirely by strawberries and apples, but still taste sweet. The fat content comes entirely from coconut and cashew butter, which add flavour as well as texture. All in all, they highlight that whole foods can be sufficient when baking.

I made these last weekend, when the sun was shining and we had an unusually sunny bank holiday Monday. (Unusual because bank holidays in England are characteristically associated with rain.) We did make it down to the coast, to Hastings, where we had a picnic lunch and visited the sea shore. It wasn't so warm that we wanted to swim - and Mini Bite proved scared of the sea anyway! - but we enjoyed our outing. These bars accompanied the picnic.

As the name suggests, these involve strawberries and apples in two forms. This is a little more work, but it is worth it. I blitzed some fruit in my food processor to make a rough puree, but if you don't have a food processor, you could achieve the same result by stewing some fruit on the stove top. This is then paired with chopped fruit.

The resulting bars are deliciously fruity, and sweet enough without being cloying. They keep well over several days and hold together well for picnics or carrying about.

Double up strawberry and apple bars

Naturally sweetened, these bars combine blended and chopped fruit to beautiful effect

Vegan

Makes 12 - 16 bars

Author: Bite-sized thoughts

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 cup strawberries, dehulled and roughly chopped

2 apples, roughly chopped

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp cashew butter

1 cup unsweetened almond milk, or non-dairy milk of choice

Method

Preheat your oven to 170'C (325'F) and line a square baking tin with non-stick paper.

Divide your strawberries and apples in half. Add half to a food processor and process briefly until the fruit forms a rough puree. (If you don't have a food processor, stew on the stove top instead and mash the fruit to achieve the same result.) Set aside, along with the remaining chopped fruit.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, coconut and baking powder. Add the pureed fruit, vanilla, cashew butter and milk and stir through. Fold in the remaining chopped fruit.

Transfer the batter to your prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool before cutting into slices.

What have you been snacking on this week?

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