Cherry Cheesecake Baked Breakfast Bars
Serena Ball, MS, RD
These easy, make-ahead bars are perfect for busy mornings. They freeze beautifully and can be grabbed to go. Microwave for only a few seconds for a warm breakfast.
This recipe was developed for the Egg Nutrition Center by Serena Ball, MS, RD, a food writer and registered dietitian nutritionist. She blogs at TeaspoonOfSpice.com sharing tricks to help families find healthy kitchen hacks and shortcuts. Follow her @TspCurry on Twitter and Snapchat.
Ingredients
| 2 cups | Quick-cooking oats (or old fashioned oats) |
| 3 each | Whole graham crackers, crushed into crumbs |
| 1 cup | Ring-shaped cereal (like Cheerios®), slightly crushed |
| 1 Tbsp | Chia seeds (optional) |
| 1/2 cup | Almonds, chopped (or walnuts or peanuts) (optional) |
| 1 cup | Unsweetened applesauce |
| 4 large | Eggs |
| 1 tsp | Vanilla |
| 3 Tbsp | 1/3 Less-fat cream cheese, softened (or Neufchatel cheese) |
| 1.5 Tbsp | 1% Milk (skim or 2% milk will work as well) |
Directions
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Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9 x 9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
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To a large bowl, add oats, cracker crumbs, cereal, chia seeds, cherries, and nuts; stir.
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In a medium bowl, combine applesauce, honey, eggs and vanilla. Whisk together with a whisk or a fork. Pour over oats mixture and mix thoroughly.
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Spread mixture into prepared baking pan; flatten gently with the back of a spoon or rubber spatula. Bake about 20-25 minutes, or until the middle is set. (Bars should still be soft, not golden brown.) Cool.
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Mix together cream cheese and milk with a fork. Drizzle over cooled bars. Store in the refrigerator; eat cold or microwave about 10 seconds on HIGH. Or freeze for busy mornings; microwave about 45 seconds on LOW/MEDIUM.
Nutritional Information
- Calories: 190
- Total fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5 g
- Sodium: 95 mg
- Carbohydrate: 32 g
- Dietary Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 7 g
Myplate Equivalents
Grain: 1 oz
Fruit: 0.25 cup
Vegetable: 0
Dairy: 0