Date and apricot oat crumble bars
Prep
30 mins
Cook
55 mins
Servings
12
Difficulty
Medium
These date and apricot oat crumble bars are my go to when I want something wholesome but feel too lazy for actual baking. The beauty of this recipe is that it comes together in under an hour and requires just one tin, making cleanup beautifully simple. Dates and apricots create a naturally sweet, jammy filling that's packed with fiber, so you get something genuinely good for you without any refined sugar. The buttery oat topping adds wonderful texture and satisfying crunch. Once you've made these once, you'll find yourself returning to them again and again because they're foolproof, affordable, and honestly taste like far more effort than they actually require.
Ella x
Ingredients
- 200 gramsunsalted butter(unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing)
- 150 gramsporridge oats
- 150 gramswhite spelt flour
- 100 gramswaitrose cooks’ ingredients palm sugar(Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients palm sugar, crushed to a fine powder (or use light brown muscovado sugar))
- ¼ tspfine sea salt
- 300 gramspitted dates
- 130 gramsdried apricots
- 1orange(orange, zest and juice)
- 200 mlscloudy apple juice
- 150 gramsporridge oats
- 50 gramswaitrose cooks’ ingredients palm sugar(Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients palm sugar, crushed to a fine powder (or use light brown muscovado sugar))
- 100 gramsunsalted butter(unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1cm cubes)
- 1 tspflaky sea salt
Detail level
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 180 ̊C, gas mark 4. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm x 30cm baking tin with baking parchment. For the base, whizz the oats in a food processor to a fine powder. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse to make a shortbread-like dough. Press evenly into the tin and bake for 15 minutes, or until starting to turn golden. Remove from the oven and set aside. (Don’t clean the food processor yet – you’ll need it again.)
- 2
Meanwhile, put the filling ingredients in a small, heavy-based saucepan. Set over a medium heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until the fruits are soft and the juices are nearly absorbed. Take off the heat and set aside.
- 3
For the crumble, put all the ingredients, except the salt, in the food processor. Blitz briefly or pulse to a crumble mixture; don’t overmix or you will end up with a ball of dough.
- 4
Spread the cooked fruit mixture evenly over the baked base, then top with the crumble. Sprinkle with the flaky salt and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden. While it’s still warm, firmly press the crumble all over with a spatula. Leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting into bars. The bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
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