These cold, sweet honey oatmeal bars with coconut cream topping underneath layers of berries is the perfect red, white and blue themed treat!
No-Bake Red, White and Blue “Flag” Cookies
Serves 16
Ingredients
2 cans coconut milk
½ cup plus 1 teaspoon honey (or brown rice syrup for vegan), divided
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats, divided
¾ cup sunflower seed butter
6 medjool dates, chopped
¼ cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
Instructions
Place two cans of coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight.
Scrape the cream out of each can. Stir in a bowl with ½ cup honey and vanilla extract. Place the bowl back in the refrigerator (or even the freezer to make it easier to spread.)
Grind 1 cup rolled oats in a food processor for two minutes. Add remaining rolled oats, sunflower seed butter, 1 teaspoon honey and dates. Run the food processor until cookie dough forms.
Cover the bottom of a rectangular pan with waxed paper.
Press cookie dough into the pan, spreading evenly.
Spread coconut cream on top of the cookie bars.
Create a flag design by making a square of blueberries in the top left corner and red stripes with the strawberries.
Cut into 16 bars and serve cold right out of the fridge. (Lift wax paper with bars and then cut and serve!)
Recipe Notes
Feel free to substitute almond butter or peanut butter for sunflower seed butter. You could omit the coconut cream and do frosting instead, but these bars are pretty sweet as it is so beware that if you add frosting, it will be super sweet. In the bars, do not substitute maple syrup or another sweetener for honey/brown rice syrup. These two sweeteners have a hardening property when cold that will bind the bars and give them shape. Stick with brown rice syrup for vegan or honey for not.
Kelli Shallal, MPH, RD, is a Phoenix-based registered dietitian, personal trainer, nutrition counselor and communications specialist. Read her blog, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
