AppleLove Blog Hop: Almond Oat Bars topped with Apple Blueberry Crumble. Vegan

Happy Oct 1st... 2 very important things starting today...

VeganMofo and #Applelove blog hop. The apple love blog hop linky will be open all through october on this post. Scroll below for the linky! Vegan mofo blog roll is up and running! you can get the Google reader bundle of all participating blogs here http://www.veganmofo.com/rss-2/ Join all of us.. about 700 bloggers blogging Vegan, all of October

I was thinking of what to whip up for apple love and I ended up with 3 fun creations.!. This is the first one. Watch this space for more to come this week! These bars are almost like almond cookies with a strong cardamom flavor. You can change up the spice to something else if you are not a cardamom fan, but let me tell you that cardamom works wonders with almonds.. The bottom of the bar is a crusty almond oat cardamom and the top is Apple and a few blueberries pureed(for some color), cooked and crumbled with oats!

Along with the blogging world events, this month is also full of Indian festivals! That means a lot of Indian sweets/desserts! Check my round up of some fun Vegan festive Sweets posted 2 days back here! Laddoos, Burfis, Jalebi, Gulab Jamun and more!

These bars make for a perfect snack with the protein and heart healthy fats from Almonds, all around nutrition from Oats and the fun fruit! The bar recipe is very flexible.. increase wet and sweet ingredients and add dry ingredients to get the consistency as mentioned and you are good to go!.

Ingredients: For 8x4 inch pan , 8 bars, 3/4 inch tall

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup self rising flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 Tablespoon flax meal
• 1 Tablespoon Vegan butter
• 2 Tablespoons organic Canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder ( or cinnamon or allspice depending on your spice of choice)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 Tablespoons raw sugar or Jaggery
• 3 Tablespoons agave syrup
• 6-8 Tablespoons warm water

Top: Make more or less crumble as needed.

• 1/2 a medium Apple
• 2 Tablespoons blueberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons raw sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder (or leave it out if you dont want the cardamom overdose)
• 5-6 Tablespoons Oats
• 1 Tablespoon Virgin Coconut oil or canola oil
• 1/3 cup self rising flour

Directions:

1. Blend/grind the almonds and cardamom to make almond flour. Grind in 15 second pulses or you might get almond butter:)
2. Blend the oats into coarse oatmeal and keep aside.
3. In a bowl add 6 Tablespoons warm water , flax, sugar, softened butter , oil, agave and mix well. Let mixture sit for 2 minutes in between if the butter doesnt combine and mix again.
4. Add in the oats, almond flours, salt, baking soda and self rising and wheat flour and mix until just about combined.
5. Add more water if needed to get a thick batter(more like a stiff cookie batter, not a flowy cake batter). Keep 2 Tablespoons of the batter to add to the top crumble.
6. Drop and spread batter evenly in parchment lined pan.
7. For the crumble, blend apple, blueberries, water, cardamom and sugar into a puree. Some small apple pieces are fine.
8. Give the puree a boil on low heat and simmer for another minute till it thickens.
9. Once the puree is cooled to a warm state, add the rest of the ingredients and the reserve almond batter to make a crumble muffin batter. Add more water if needed to make it easier to spread( since this quantity is for a thin layer on top). You can also double the crumble and just drop on top.
10. Drop this on top the almond oat bottom and spread evenly.
11. Bake at preheated 350 degrees F for 25-35(depending on thickness) minutes until toothpick inserted comes out almost clean or the sides start to brown.
12. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove parchment and cool on wire rack for another 10 minutes before slicing! Enjoy these snack bars anytime of the day!

Please join in on the #applelove fun by linking up any Apple recipe from the month of October 2011. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #applelove event. The twitter hashtag is #applelove :).
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