Nutty Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars
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So, I think my tastebuds might be going through a midlife crisis. These days, they (my tastebuds) are having a hard time distinguishing between well roasted and mashed pumpkin and well roasted and mashed sweet potato. It gets even worse when either pureed sweet potato or pureed pumpkin are added to a baked treat. Case in point, the other day, I thought I was inhaling a pumpkin muffin from a bakery, only to see that the label on the bag said “sweet potato!” GAH!
Now, my daughter thinks I am a bit nutty as she swears she can easily tell them apart! I keep trying to fool her, but that kid manages to catch a glimpse of a can of pumpkin puree or baked potato skins and calls me out. Recently, I made these Nutty Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars and tried to convince her they were pumpkin – but she dug through the trash, pulled out the well roasted sweet potato skins and said “good try mom, good try!” The next time I decide to subject her to a taste test, I seriously need to amp up my cleaning game and get rid of any evidence first!
Speaking of these Nutty Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars, I did something different making these. I picked up a pack of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and POST Pebbles cereal at Publix and figured I’d add some of the Honey Bunches of Oats cereal into the blended up batter for these bars, as well as use some more of the Honey Bunches of Oats cereal to make a faux-streusel topping.
By the way, you can save $1 on any ONE (1) Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and $0.75 off of any ONE (1) POST Pebbles cereal at Publix using a special coupon!
I made these bars just before we moved. Yes, move-d as in past tense! I will write more about this past crazy week in another post shortly. I’ve gotta say that even though the week was crazy, there were some super cool people I met through it. And, these bars helped see my daughter and I through some crazy packing and moving!
When I made these bars, I almost added a handful of caramel chips to them – I mean sweet potato and caramel chips are delightfully delicious! But, instead I decided to use some medjool dates and some brown sugar to give these Nutty Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars a more natural sweetness. Though, I must confess, there was one night when we warmed these bars up and topped them with the last bit of vanilla ice cream we had left in out old freezer!
Ingredients
For the base
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 2 medium sweet potatoes baked, peeled and mashed well
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 eggs
- 4 dates soaked in warm water for 10 minutes
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 + 1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
- 1/2 cup caramel chips optional
Cereal Streusel topping
- 1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9 baking tray with parchment and set aside.
- Meanwhile, add oats, almond meal, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie spice, salt, eggs, dates, brown sugar, vanilla and almond extract, and coconut oil to a blender and blend till well incorporated.
- Using a spatula stir in Honey Bunches of oats as well as caramel chips (optional) and spoon mixture into baking tray.
- Add the other cup of Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal, coconut oil, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice into a bowl and mix well. Then, sprinkle it onto the sweet potato cereal base.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool, cut into squares and enjoy.
They look GREAT with that crunchy oat flake topping!
Sweet potatoes? Awesome! I love the concept of using sweet potatoes as a base for these breakfast bars. And I happen to love Honey Bunches of Oats, too, so these would be an awesome way to start the day! And I totally hear ya about adding a handful of caramel chips…I suspect the addition would mean these bars would go from awesome breakfast to awesome dessert. Or both? 🙂 Glad the move is now more or less behind you, and I can’t wait to hear the stories! Now you get to start unpacking…umph. Tell Lil Shashi I said hello!