Healthy-ish Strawberry Shortcake Squares

Sunday morning I decided I needed to stock the cupboards with a few snacks. I have done this recipe a few times and we enjoy the muffins. The only problem is these are very sticky so you can't use paper cupcake liners; you either have to use silicon cupcake liners or spray your cupcake tins. I do not own silicon liners and was too lazy to grease 24 cupcake tins, so I went, what the heck, I will just make them into squares.

I followed this recipe from The Dashing Dish that I found on Pinterest.  I am a Pinterest-a-holic and I found this recipe a few months back. It has become a staple of mine to use if not weekly, at least bi-weekly. It's a great way to get some oats in your diet and the burst of fruit makes it feel like a sweet treat, not just a healthy treat.
 

The Dashing Dish Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

Great Value Products from Walmart have some good products.  Sometimes store brands aren't as great as the name brands but I like Great Value and the price is far more friendly to my pocket.

 I made some substitutions based on what I had:

Instead of 1 cup of Greek Yogurt, I used 1 cup of unsweetened Applesauce.

I did not grind my oats, but I have in the past.  I like them more rustic but they are good either way.

I used quick oats, I always do. (The cooking time is reduce for the muffins to about 19 minutes if you use quick oats)

I always double the recipe as we love these muffins/squares and they last nicely in the freezer.

Instructions:

Pre-heat Oven to 400.

Grease Pan (I used two 9x9 pans)

Add wet ingredients.

Technically I added the baking soda and baking powder to the wet ingredients, which started to fizz due to the lemon juice.  I had a science experiment in my squares!  So these sqaures weren't just tasty, they were fun and educational...  Ok, at least I found this fun.

Mix well. 

Add dry ingredients.  (I added a dash of cinnamon to kick it up a notch.)

Add Fruit.  (I used a mix of frozen raspberries and strawberries.  SO GOOD!)

The only downfall to frozen fruit is it's frozen in whole, large pieces.  I whacked them a few times with the meat tenderizer to make for small pieces  which  allow for a more even fruit to batter ratio.

Mix Well.

Add to greased pans.

I cooked my squares for about 35 minutes.  Due to the applesauce, these are very moist and you have to watch and do the toothpick test periodically.

They are tasty and somewhat healthy as they lack the oil.  (I used real brown sugar so the calorie count went up, but meh, they taste amazing!)  VERY EASY TO MAKE!!!

Great for quick breakfasts or for a yummy snack.