Oat and yogurt breakfast bars

Oat and yogurt breakfast bars

Regular readers know I'm all about make-ahead, grab-and-go breakfasts.

So imagine my delight when the recipe choice list for my virtual book club this week included a good-for-you, whole-grain cereal bar. I was all over that like white on rice.

When cooking from a book entitled Whole Grains for a New Generation, I didn't expect to find too many sweet recipes.  Frankly, I didn't expect to find any at all, because I'm that new to cooking with whole grains.

This bar is all about the oats (just like my salted oat crack cookies but with actual nutritional value). I'm hooked on making oat flour simply by grinding up oatmeal in the food processor: genius! I modified the original recipe, based on what ingredients I could find (I'm hard-pressed to find quinoa flakes locally and didn't want to have to mail-order them just for this recipe), but I'm super-pleased with the results.

Really, it's the layers that put these bars over the top: the "crust" layer is firm and oaty while the topping layer is rich and creamy.

They taste not unlike cheesecake.

And who wouldn't love to scam cheesecake for breakfast?

Go ahead. The Ninj says it's OK.

Oat and Yogurt Breakfast Bars (adapted from Lianna Krissoff's Whole Grains for a New Generation)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, melted
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking), plus another 1/4 cup for topping
1 1/2 cups organic, unsweetened puffed rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
6- or 8-ounce container plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chopped peanuts (or whatever other nut you prefer)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the oats, cereal, cinnamon and a pinch of salt in a food processor and process into a flour consistency. Empty into a bowl and add the melted butter, sugar and applesauce. Mix thoroughly. Dump this mixture into a greased 8-inch square baking pan and press into a crust.

Back to the food processor: process the yogurt, egg and honey until smooth. Pour the yogurt mixture over the crust in the pan and smooth across the top (try for even coverage). Sprinkle the surface with the nuts and up to 1/4 cup of additional unprocessed oats.

Bake for 30 minutes and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Store in the refrigerator.