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. 😉
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Fruit-Sweetened Pear Oatmeal Bars
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 16 1x
Description
These Pear Oatmeal Bars are vegan, gluten-free, and have no added sugar!
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!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Breakfast
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
I thought I’d like this recipe, but it turned out awful 😢. I used whole wheat flour, maybe that was it.
Unfortunately, I had to throw it all out.
I’m really sorry it didn’t work out for you. I haven’t tried this with a different flour, but I’m guessing that was it.
I wonder what taste it will be. Any tips to make it better?
★★★★★
Loved this recipe, will be making it again. Everything turned out perfectly, and my kids 3.5 and 1.5 kept asking for more. Now to get my hubby on board, he said they are not sweet enough
★★★★★
I must have goofed something up… followed recipe to the T. Threw out the whole batch! It was like eating mushy oatmeal with peanut butter in it with spicy aftertaste. I was thankful I didn’t use my almond butter or they would have been an expensive first try at fruit bars.
★
I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you. Without being there to watch, it’s hard to say what may have gone wrong.
Second chance with these but only because my baby grandson loves them!! First attempt was a gooey mess. I adapted the recipe as follows and was pleasantly surprised at the outcome.
Increased oat flour to 1c Rolled oats 3/4. 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder. 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4tsp cloves. Baked at 350 in 8×8 pan for 35-40 min or until mixture looks dry on top and springs back.
This worked out well and baked up quite nice, easy to cut and serve 🙂
I love the idea of no sugar no egg but the formula on recipe as is just didn’t seem to set up.
★★★★
Curious if you use sweetened or unsweetened apple sauce in this recipe?
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
This looks so good! Do you use this base for any other bars?
Can these be frozen please? I live alone so it’d be great to take out of the freezer one at a time.
I’ve not tried freezing these, so I’m not sure! Please lmk if you try it!
I 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
Delicious! 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!
★★★★
I’m glad you liked these! 🙂
amazing 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
★★★★★
These 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.
★★★★
Trying 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!! 🙂