Strawberry chia jam oat squares

Today I was emptying out my fridge and found an untouched jar of strawberry chia jam that I made a few days ago. I do this often - I have high hopes of making jam cookies or putting it in O's yogurt, but it sits in the fridge until it's too late.

Anyways, I originally uncovered this chia jam recipe from Oh She Glows years ago - it's an easy recipe to follow and I typically alter it to suit our needs (less sugar) and have since made many variations (different fruits, spices, etc). If you haven't been over to the Oh She Glows blog or flipped through one of Angela's cookbooks, I highly recommend it - she's a fellow Canuck and has amazing plant-based (and many GF) recipes.

By chance, I was looking for a good recipe to incorporate the chia jam, and she happened to have an oat square recipe that incorporated it. So I thought maybe I'll test out my own little version of her recipe and cut some of the sugar out to make it a nice treat for O. Plus Valentine's day is coming up and this recipe is seasonally appropriate (in terms of colour...it's definitely not strawberry season).

These are the thoughts that went through my head BEFORE noticing that the only thing O didn't eat from his breakfast this morning was...you guessed it...the damn strawberries! The organic, out of season, $8 strawberries!! For the past week he has been head over heels in love with strawberries and couldn't get enough, shoving them whole in his mouth at times. But now he leaves them when I base an entire recipe around that one fruit???

But c'est la vie! The oat bars are already in the oven and if I have to eat the whole damn thing myself, so be it!

I also was so proud of myself for making these squares and showed them off to my husband who said "Why don't you ever make treats that I like?". Curious as to what he meant by that, he told me he doesn't like baked goods with jam. So naturally I forced a piece of this good shit in his mouth and he freaking loved it!

Ingredients

For the chia jam:

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped
2 tbsp. maple syrup (or sweetener of choice)
2 tbsp. chia seeds

For the oat base and topping:

1 1/2 cups oats (rolled or regular)
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp milk


Method

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a small pan (I used a 6x13 pan that I'm not even sure where it came from, but the classic 9x9 works) with parchment paper.

For the jam: In a medium sized pot, add the chopped strawberries and maple syrup over medium heat until the strawberries cook down a bit. Stir in the chia seeds and incorporate them well. Simmer the jam over low to medium heat for 10-15 mins (think low and slow). Once your jam has thickened a bit, remove from heat and let it cool (15-30 mins, or throw it in the fridge to quicken this process while you get your oat base ready. I like my jam a bit lumpy, but if you like it smooth, you can use a potato masher to get rid of the lumps, or add it to a food processor for a few seconds to make it nice and smooth).

For the rest:

1. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together (oats, flours, sugar, baking soda and salt).

2. In a small bowl, add all wet ingredients together (egg, butter, maple syrup and milk).

3. Add the wet to the dry and mix very well

4. Setting aside approx. 1/2 cup of the dough for the topping, pour the dough into your pan and press it down with your fingers so that it's evenly spread.

5. Pour on the strawberry jam and smooth over the oat mixture.

6. Using the 1/2 cup of dough you set aside, sprinkle over the jam.

7. Bake at 350F for approximately 30 minutes. Allow to fully cool before removing it from the pan and digging in.

I froze half the batch for weekend treats. The rest was stored in our tummies...they were really good!