An improved version of the classic fruit square. Zero trans fats, so if you serve it with ice cream, you may add your own!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups blueberries
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup cold water
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place chickpeas, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and salt in a food processor. Blend to a dough-like consistency; press into an 8×11-inch baking pan.
- Bake crust in the preheated oven until crisp and lightly browned, 20 minutes.
- Combine blueberries, white sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan; cook over medium-low heat until blueberries have reduced, 10 to 15 minutes. Whisk cornstarch and water together in a small bowl; stir into blueberry mixture. Cook until mixture thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour blueberry mixture onto the cooked crust.
- Mix 1 1/2 cup rolled oats, flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda together in a large bowl until bread crumb consistency. Sprinkle over blueberry mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven until blueberry filling is bubbling and crumble topping is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. Store leftovers in refrigerator.
Reviews
READ THIS FIRST! I just made this and it was a fail. As I was making it, I kept thinking the directions/ingredients were out of whack. The crust turned out to be a batter. I didn’t press it in to the pan, I poured it. Consequently I ended up having to bake it for twice as long. The topping ended up far too dry & floury. I’m thinking the 1 cup of flour should have been added to the crust mix & not the topping? I’m 98% certain I got all the measurements right. If you try this recipe, do a practice run first. Don’t wait for the day of the party to try to make it. I’m not going to waste another 3 cups of blueberries to see if my theory about the flour is right. Good luck.
This is my most requested baked good from friends and family.
When you put the three cups of blueberries, expect to add a half to three quarters of a cup of sugar to make the flavor decent. Also expect to leave the three layers in the oven at 350 for an hour. Thirty minutes will not be long enough to get a golden brown top crust.
Awesomely tasty and not too sweet! I mistakenly didn’t add enough baking powder to the garbanzo beans and it came out a little gooey bu still tasted great. Next time I’ll get it right.
terrible recipe. topping ends up basically being a thick layer of flour – who wants to put that in their mouth? need butter or more oil to make it into a crumbly crust/topping. overall, very disappointed.
Liked it but doesn’t freeze well
No changes, it was quite good.
Made a double batch of dough then made 1 with strawberry sauce and 1 with apple pie filling chopped finally.
I too found the bottom crust very wet so I added more oats and a bit more brown sugar. I agree that the topping amount is much more than needed.
This dessert was delicious! I used coconut oil instead of olive oil and I added1/2 tsp. cinnamon and nutmeg in the crust and the topping. Our company loved it and even ate seconds!
It is not done yet but there seems to be flour missing in the first step. My food processor concoction was so wet that it was like batter rather than dough. Is there a missing ingredient? I doubled the oatmeal and still could not get it to be like dough.
Very very good.
Tasted good, but I think next time I’ll add cinnamon to the topping and maybe some add some butter to the topping since it didn’t really act as a crumble to me. My daughter thought there was figs in the bar, but I think that was the garbanzo beans she was tasting in the crust.
Delicious recipe!! But I will cut back on the topping the next time. I did add some cinnamon to the topping. I will be interested to try coconut oil next time instead of olive oil. Highly recommended recipe and I am not vegan. My husband loved them too.
Really great dessert without too much guilt! I added 1/2 tsp. cinnamon & 1/4 tsp. nutmeg to both the crust and the topping. Gave it the added flavor other reviewers indicated it needed. I agree there was too much topping, especially flour. Plan to cut back on that next time and maybe add a little more oil to help it congeal better.
Rated this recipe high due to the positive health factor, yet still a dessert! Taste needs increased a bit. The only change I did to this recipe was add some cinnamon. Next time, will add some lemon zest and more cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. But overall, I enjoyed it.
Surprisingly good! Served w/ a dallop of honey greek yogurt, a great snack for kids (or who are we kidding, a treat). Full of protein, fiber, vitamins.
Original post of 5 stars: I tried these for the first time today and was pleased with the results! Because I don’t own a food processor, I used my KitchenAid mixer to make the bottom layer and it worked out just fine. I used my 7×11 baking dish, so the bottom needed 30 minutes to bake instead of 20. I will possibly try baking it in a bigger dish next time. The only change I made to the bottom layer was to add just a shake of salt instead of the whole 1/4 t. I made the blueberry mixture just as it said to. I also made the top just as suggested, although I’m going to add cinnamon next time. I baked them for about 25 minutes and couldn’t wait until they were cool to take a bite! These would definitely be good with some ice cream or Cool Whip, especially when warm! I was hesitant to bake with garbanzo beans, but now I won’t be anymore. Thanks for sharing your healthy recipe, Janet! Edit with change to 2 stars: Turns out these blueberry squares were good only for the first day. After that, they turned very soggy and inedible. I ended up throwing away over half of the recipe.
This was delish! I did add some cinnamon in with the crust ingredients. Came out very yummie! Also sprinkled top with cinnamon and sugar before baking. Can’t wait to try this recipe with apple or raspberry!
For being a vegan dessert, this recipe was nearly as good as the buttery fruit bars. Only real change I made was using Mazola corn oil, mostly, as I only had about 2 Tblsp left of olive oil. I like that this had a lot of fiber with the beans, rolled oats, and all of the blueberries and it used oil instead of butter or shortening. Although, I could slightly taste the garbanzo beans. They do have a distinct taste. Also, the crust starts to get soggy by the 2nd day in the fridge. So, consider that with 24 bars, even if they are on the small size. Also, with the fruit, a large pack of blueberries, or whole sales club size, is really needed to get 3 full cups unless lucky enough to have a blueberry bush with abundant berries available. I used a 12 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 2-inch disposable pan sprayed with PAM. The bars cut out very nicely, but the topping is a little lose. Freshly made it was rather tasty with a little whipped topping or vanilla ice cream.
Very tasty! A bit sweet though, so I’ll add less sugar. And the topping volume was too much compared to the blueberry and crust. Will definitely make it again.