As you know, I am working hard at getting my family to be mostly sugar and gluten-free. I don’t feel that they need to be as low carb as I am, but I am committed to eliminating the majority of wheat-based products we keep in this house. I have a strong supporter in my husband, who actually crowed with delight the other day when he discovered that we’d already used up the last loaf of wheat bread in the freezer. But winning over the kids is a much more difficult task and I have to savour whatever little victories I can achieve. They are young yet, and want to eat what they see their friends at school eat, so my sugar-free, gluten-free recipes often meet with more than a little suspicion.
And I have some stiff competition in the world of pre-packaged foods. Heretofore, they were allowed some of these snacks as long as they passed mum’s nutritional standards. Breakfast bars and cereal bars, as long as they actually had a decent amount of fiber and weren’t loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, used to pass those standards. But they don’t any longer and now I’ve had to rethink my approach. Just purchasing gluten-free cereal bars isn’t really an option because they may not contain wheat, but they often still contain a fair amount of sugar.
But what is a cereal bar, anyway? A layer of crust, a fruity filling and another layer of crust. It can’t be that hard to make them gluten-free AND sugar-free, can it? And if you happen to have a jar of homemade, sugar-free blueberry jam in your cellar, they are even easier. Whip up a healthy crust, spread the jam, bake…and pray that your kids like them. Hold your breath as you offer them to your children for breakfast. Wait for it…wait for it…oh, hey! They like them. They really like them! Mum 1: Gluten 0.
If you don’t happen to have a jar of homemade, sugar-free jam, you can use storebought easily. I try to avoid the kinds with sucralose, as I am not a fan of either the taste of how it’s made. There are some that are made with no sweeteners at all, like Polaner’s, but you may find that the filling melts into the crust (should still taste good, though!). Other jams are made with xylitol, and would work well.
If you don’t need to be gluten-free, try these Blueberry Crumb Bars from Saving Dessert.
Blueberry Breakfast Bars – Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Kids
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 cup golden flax seed meal
- 1/2 cup all purpose gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
- 1/4 cup Swerve Sweetener or other erythritol
- 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 10 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 30 drops stevia extract
- 2 cups sugar-free blueberry jam (I use homemade)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and butter an 8x8 inch baking pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together oat flour, flax seed meal, all purpose GF flour, Swerve, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, vanilla, and stevia. Add butter to flour mixture and stir until combined.
- Press half of mixture firmly into bottom of prepared pan.
- Spread blueberry jam over crust, then sprinkle with remaining flour mixture and press lightly to adhere.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbly and crust is golden brown. Remove and let cool in pan.
