Made with 100% whole grains, these maple and brown sugar oatmeal squares are a wonderful option for a fast, cheap, healthy breakfast. They’re dense and super filling, and an awesome grab-and-go for busy mornings, or to take on a hike for a satiating boost of energy.
These are kind of like dense muffins, but baked all together like a cake and cut into squares. This makes the prep and clean-up much easier (I love muffins, but I hate filling and cleaning each individual cup!). The squares are a mixture of mostly oats, some whole wheat flour, maple syrup and brown sugar, nuts, milk, an egg, and a few other things. They’re packed full of fiber with just a touch of sweetness.
Oh, and they also have a streusel topping. Because… streusel. You can leave this out if you want to cut back on sugar :-)
I’ve been trying to eat more oats lately. I’m exclusively breastfeeding my daughter, Zoey, and I’m happy to say we’ve gone four months with not a drop of formula! My goal is to breastfeed her for a full year. But as she grows, so does her appetite. I’d heard that oats help increase breastmilk supply, and after a few days of eating oats every day, I noticed a difference. These bars make it easy to eat oats every day, and Zoey’s doing a lot better at eating more during each feeding.
They’ve also been super helpful this week for my husband in the mornings – he’s a teacher, and the last few weeks of school for a teacher are a rough gig. Having an easy, healthy breakfast takes the stress out of busy mornings and gives him energy to get through the day.
For a gluten-free option, substitute the whole wheat flour with oat flour. You can buy it at the store, or you can make your own simply by grinding up oats to your food processor.
Recipe for Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares below!
Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares
Ingredients
For the Oatmeal Squares:
- 1 egg
- 1.5 cups milk
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 tablespoons butter melted (1/2 stick)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans chopped
For the Streusel Topping (optional):
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, beat together egg (1), milk (1 1/2 cups), brown sugar (1/4 cup), maple syrup (1/4 cup), cinnamon (1 teaspoon), vanilla extract (1 teaspoon), baking soda (1 teaspoon), and melted butter (4 tablespoons) with an electric mixer (or vigorously by hand with a whisk).
- Add the whole wheat flour (1 cup), stir until there are no dry parts.
- Add the oats (2 cups) and chopped walnuts or pecans (1/2 cup) and fold in.
- Add mixture to prepared baking pan.
- Meanwhile, if you want the streusel topping, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and sprinkle on top of the bars mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cut into squares.
- Store in an airtight container or wrapped individually in plastic wrap at room temperature for 3 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
Notes
- For a gluten free version: substitute oat flour for whole wheat flour.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Mary Jane South South
I love this recipe and have made it many times. Suggest pouring the batter into muffin tins for convenience. For sweetener, I use only the maple syrup and a bit of molasses to give the muffins a bit of a caramel flavour. Adding heaps of nutmet and cinnamon also adds to the flavour. I highly recommend this recipe. I often have a muffin with some fruit for breakfast.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it, and great idea to use a muffin tin for it!
Melissa
I made these, and they were not what I was expecting. They aren’t inedible, just not what I am used to texture wise for an oatmeal bar. I think it would have been more appropriate to title it ‘oatmeal cake bars’ – b/c they are very very cake like. The cake consistency overpowers the oatmeal. It’s kind of like banana bread, but oatmeal instead of banana. Despite 4 tbsp of butter, and butter strudel on top – I still had to complement them w/ additional butter and more maple syrup (like a pancake). For the sugar & carbs included in this breakfast, I would much rather spend the carbs on real bread or dessert. I followed as is, except my maple syrup had cinnamon and vanilla included. I think it altogether would have benefited w/ salt as well – salted butter isn’t enough. Again, it’s edible – I won’t throw away or waste food. But there are many better recipes for oatmeal bars or oatmeal bakes or oatmeal muffins out there.
Elizabeth Lindemann
This is good feedback, thanks for being so specific!
Harlie
Planning on making these. Just wondered how long they need to defrost and how long they will last once defrosted? :)
Elizabeth Lindemann
After you bake them, you can cut them up and freeze them. Then, take one out and let it defrost at room temperature for probably a couple of hours (this is great if you want to throw them in a bagged lunch for a snack later in the day) or pop them in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Hope that helps and hope you like them!
Courtney
Havent tried yet but were trying to eat less sugar. Can i sub sugar for monkfruit? If so how much should i use of that instead? Also want to swap the flour with almond or coconut flour. What do you think?
Elizabeth Lindemann
I think you can probably use monkfruit instead of sugar! I’ve never tried it, but from what I hear, it’s much sweeter than regular sugar, so I recommend using half of it. As for the almond or coconut flour, I would not recommend a substitution here, as both of those flours act much differently than wheat. If you want to keep it wheat free, I’d try using oat flour instead of wheat (you can just grind up oats in your food processor, or buy it at the store). Hope that helps!
Katie yakeley
I substituted wheat flour for regular flour and added marshmallows into the squares mixture before baking cause I didn’t have sugar available this morning and the results were amazing ☺️
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it and that was SO creative with adding marshmallows! Love it!
Molly
I followed the recipe exactly and cannot believe you made these work. I used the 8×8 pan w parchment recommended for 25 min and the squares were globs of goo. How did you bake these so they came out looking like the pictures you posted? VERY disappointed.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh wow. I am SO sorry you had this frustrating experience. After I got this comment I actually went ahead and made them myself (I needed something for my kids for breakfast this week anyway, so perfect timing!). Turns out you need 45 minutes of baking time, NOT 25! Ugh, I can’t believe that mistake was up on this recipe for so long. I went ahead and fixed the recipe. Thanks SO much for bringing this to my attention, and I’m so sorry again that this happened to you!
molly
Oh gosh! Thanks for letting me know. I really wanted these to work out and now they will!! Keep posting recipes! They are great!
peachy
If a recipe is undercooked, why not just allow it to bake longer? This would be a simple fix to attempt
Roxie
I wanted instant gratification so I only used what I had on hand.
I didn’t have enough maple syrup so I used what I had and substituted the rest with organic honey.
I added dried cranberries instead.
I used unbleached flour instead of wheat flour.
It turned out really good. Thanks for this easy versatile recipe.
Elizabeth
Love these suggestions- thanks! Glad you liked it :-)
Charlie
You should be more clear about the measurements for the milk. What in the world is 1.5 cups?
Elizabeth
I’m assuming you’re not from America, but from a place where the metric system is used? “Cups” is a standard American measurement with measuring baking ingredients or liquids. It doesn’t just mean a random cup from your cupboard :-) Here’s a great resource for conversions! Hope it helps. https://whatscookingamerica.net/equiv.htm
Di
Even foreign countries have cup measurements. 1.5 is one and a half cups. Not understanding what about that is unclear to you Charlie. It could also be written 1 1/2 cups.