My eldest son attends a fantastic after school youth club one day per week. Since it’s right after school and the members are a group of pre-teens/teenagers they are absolutely starving! So, each person brings in a small dish to share with the others. This week I made these homemade Nutri-grain bars, adapted from a recipe by The Meltaways, for my son to bring in and oh my what a response they got! The club members would very much like to be my Guinea pigs for any future recipe experiments, yes please! Containing no high-fructose corn syrup, artificial ingredients or additives these make a fabulous alternative to the highly processed commercial variety.
I used a bag of frozen mixed fruits which I picked up during my monthly supermarket shop in town for just over £1. I usually keep a bag or two of these in the deep freeze for times when fresh fruit is scarce, like when our lifeline ferry service has been disrupted due to rough seas. These inexpensive frozen fruits and berries make wicked real fruit roll-ups too, should you be inclined.
- 225 grams unsalted butter
- 180 grams dark soft brown sugar
- 120 grams wholemeal self-raising flour
- 130 grams plain white flour
- 145 grams porridge oats
- 500 grams fresh or frozen mixed fruit & berries
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 12 bars
Since these bars are made entirely from scratch I’ve entered them into Javelin Warrior’s Made with Love, Mondays food round-up.
Caribbean Dream Squares
I see there is no actual Nutrigrain or did I miss that ingredient?
This recipe is a homemade version of the shop-bought bars, so no, it doesn’t contain Nutrigrain itself. You could try substituting the porridge oats for the same quantity of Nutrigrain cereal though, if you’ve got some needing used up.
Made these today and they are delicious! I had low expectations as I am truly addicted to the commercial version, but these taste great.
I swapped wholemeal self raising for stoneground wholemeal flour and plain white for self-raising white, and added extra oats on top as I’d accidentally used most of the mix on the base, but it was still really good. Also got rid of leftover homemade jam which needed using up.
Greetings from Ohio!
Yum! These are EXACTLY the style I remember my mom making! Quick question…. Do you happen to know if your porridge oats are the same as quick/instant oats in the US?
Thanks for the help and especially for the recipe!
Good morning and thank you for your comment! 🙂 Yes, your quick/instant oats would be the same. Let me know how you get on!
I made these today, they are wonderful. I should have made them in a bigger tin and made them a bit thinner, but now they are completely cold they have firmed up beautifully. Is it ok if I blog them and link your blog for the recipe?
Fantastic! I’m so glad they worked out! Oh yes do blog the recipe, for sure 🙂
Will give these a try today, they look lovely. I only have frozen raspberries will they we ok to use?
Excellent, let me know how you get on! Raspberries should work fine, I’d think. You might want to sweeten them if they are too tart though. The kids all loved the unsweetened filling I made, but the OH thought it was a bit sharp.
These look great. I made lots of different ones myself in readiness for when my girl needs snacks for school in a couple of years!
It’s surprising how easy things like this are to make, and how much cheaper they work out to be than shop bought varieties.