These Pear Oatmeal Bars are vegan, gluten-free, and 100% fruit sweetened, with no added sugar. 
Let me make one thing clear. Creating 100% fruit-sweetened bars that don’t taste like cardboard is no easy task. This recipe may win the award for most recipe trials in one week. I finally got it right, however, and if you’re looking for a bar with no added sugar whatsoever, this is the recipe for you. 
I was going to call these Pear Blondies, but then I realized that blondies sounds way too much like dessert and people may assume they are going to get a super-sweet-dessert-like bar. For most people, these are probably more like a breakfast or snack bar. So Pear Oatmeal Bars seemed like a more fitting name.
These are naturally sweet, meaning they have a subtle sweetness that doesn’t overtake the bars. They pair perfectly with my morning coffee and the kids have been loving them for a snack as well. Well, Luke said, “I like the cake part. But you eat the pears” and picked out all of the pear chunks. That’s a 4-year-old for you, I guess. 
If you are doing the Cut the Sugar Challenge and are craving something sweet, these will work well for dessert. They happen to be vegan and gluten-free, as well. The texture is not dry at all (you know the word I’m going for here, right?) and the spices compliment the pears well. 
I hope these Pear Oatmeal Bars will help you stick to your goals in the Cut the Sugar Challenge. They have definitely helped me, even though five batches later I may have eaten one too many. 😉
PrintFruit-Sweetened Pear Oatmeal Bars
These Pear Oatmeal Bars are vegan, gluten-free, and have no added sugar!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Ingredients
- 4 medium pears, divided
- 1/2 cup apple sauce
- 1/2 cup almond butter, cashew butter, or peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8X8 inch pan with parchment paper with overhang or aluminum foil and lightly oil the foil.
- Make a pear puree by blending 2 pears. I did not peel the pears, but if your blender isn’t powerful you may want to peel them first. You should have 1 cup pear puree.
- In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup pear puree, the apple sauce, nut butter, and vanilla.
- Stir in the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, flour, oats, and baking powder. Mix until combined.
- Peel and dice the two remaining pears. Stir in the diced pears.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. Enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 112
- Sugar: 5.2g
- Sodium: 20mg
- Fat: 5.1g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Fiber: 3.1g
- Protein: 3.1g
Vanessa says
October 30, 2019 at 3:56 pmThanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
Suzanne says
October 30, 2019 at 3:55 pmThis looks so good! Do you use this base for any other bars?
Emma says
March 1, 2019 at 6:57 amCan these be frozen please? I live alone so it’d be great to take out of the freezer one at a time.
Maryea says
March 4, 2019 at 10:42 amI’ve not tried freezing these, so I’m not sure! Please lmk if you try it!
Elle says
December 17, 2018 at 3:59 pmI made these last week for my 14 month old. He loved them as did I.. Reading these comments I realize i left out the baking powder:/
The texture was very soft, perfect for the little one. I’m wondering if there’s a way to have a bit more firmness to either top or bottom. I used aluminum (lightly oiled) because i didnt have parchment and wonder if that had anything to do with how soft they were on the top and bottom
Rachel says
October 16, 2018 at 7:38 pmDelicious! and filling 🙂 Mine turned out more cake-like than bar-like. I had to use whole wheat flour since that’s all I had. I also had to add a tiny bit of water to help my blender blend the pears. – maybe that’s why it turned out more cake-like. I love how I didn’t use any sugar and it still tasted so tasty and sweet!
★★★★
Maryea says
October 17, 2018 at 11:09 amI’m glad you liked these! 🙂
rachel says
October 7, 2018 at 2:57 pmamazing recipe, have made it too many times already. my kids love them. we are always on the lookout of fruit sweetned treats. i make it without the pieces of pear and spread it out very thin on a cookie sheet so its more like a bar. thanks you
★★★★★
Megan says
August 23, 2018 at 1:16 amThese were really good! I might add nuts next time. I used regular flour instead of oat flour because I didn’t feel like taking the extra step to grind some, so mine are a little less healthy. But for a no-added-sugar dessert/snack, these are a great option. FYI: Mine only took 25 minutes to bake.
★★★★
Jan k says
April 8, 2018 at 7:25 pmTrying a no added sugar diet and made these just now on day 1. I’m a serious sweet tooth and these are hitting the spot!! I used 2 different types of pears and peanut butter. Otherwise followed exactly. They were slightly gooey when I took out of oven at 30 mins and are firming up as they cool. I used parchment in a ceramic 8×8 dish. Thanks for the recipe!! 🙂