Jammy Spiced Oat & Barley Crumble Bars

by Leanne Townsend December 19, 2024

These spiced jammy bars, topped with a crumble of oat and black barley flakes, are perfect for packed lunches, afternoon treats or served warm with ice cream as a delicious dessert.

Leanne describes her recipe:

"Winter is with us and here in Scotland berry season is over for another year. Every year I gather baskets of my favourite berries – raspberries, blackberries, bilberries and lingonberries, and make them into jars of jam to see me through the year (and for gifting at Christmas).

"These spiced crumble bars are one of my favourite ways of using home-made jams. Made with oats and flavoured with wild spices (or whatever spices you like to bake with), they are comforting and delicious. With a chewy oaty base, a fruity jammy layer and a crunchy oaty crumb topping, they’re perfect as a snack, in your lunchbox, or warmed through in the oven and served with a dollop of cream for a tasty winter pudding.

"They’re a regular on my foraging and wild food events as a great way to showcase hedgerow fruit and wild spices. I’ve added Hodmedod's black barley flakes to the crumble mix and I’m delighted with the results – they add a perfectly nutty texture to the bars. I’ve used my bilberry jam in this recipe, but use whichever jam you like; whether home-made or shop-bought I am sure you’ll be delighted with the results."

Leanne Townsend is an expert forager and cook, running courses and workshops throughout the year in Aberdeenshire and throughout Scotland. She also leads academic research on wild food culture and practices in the UK and worldwide.

Ingredients

125g Rolled Oats
60g Black Barley Flakes
225g Wholemeal Flour
165g Light Brown Sugar
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Salt
2 tbsp Ground Hogweed seeds (if unavailable use baking spices of your choice – e.g. ½ tsp Cinnamon or ½ tsp Cardamom Powder)
220g Cold Butter (or vegan butter, which works equally well), cut into cubes
1 Medium-Sized Jar of Jam (around 370g)

Method

Prepare a 20cm square tin (or a roughly equivalent rectangular tin) by greasing with butter and lining with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180c fan.
In a mixing bowl or food processor bowl, combine flour, black barley flakes, oats, baking powder, sugar, spice powder of choice, and salt.
Add the cubed butter (or vegan butter). If using a food processor, pulse until the mixture resembles a crumble mixture (make sure the butter is combined, but the crumble shouldn’t be too fine/powdery). If using a bowl, use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until a crumble mixture is achieved.
Push about two thirds of the mixture evenly into the greased and lined tin. This is the base of the crumble bars. Bake this for 10-15 minutes until starting to brown slightly.
Remove from the oven and spread the entire jar of jam evenly over the base.
Sprinkle the remaining one third of the crumble mixture evenly over the jam layer.
Return to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the crumble topping is golden.
Let the crumble bars cool in the tin, then remove and cut into fingers or squares. The crumble bars keep well in a tin for up to a week.

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