If you are like me your mornings are pretty hectic. I have to get myself ready for work, walk the dog, and some how find time for breakfast. Most mornings my breakfast consist of a cup of coffee and that’s about it. My Keurig is a blessing, if I could I would marry that thing. But since its not legal for a woman to marry a coffee maker, I’ll settle for our best friends for life relationship.

Strolling through the breakfast isle I noticed that there are over 100 different types of breakfast bars. I rarely buy processed food items, except for breakfast bars. They come in handy when you need to quell the beast in your stomach. Since my diet consist of mostly heart healthy foods I always look for the heart check label. Reading the ingredients is important to me, well except for when I have no idea what half the shit is. Intimidated by hydrogenated oils and other things I couldn’t pronounce I put the box down. I thought to myself “I can probably make breakfast bars from scratch.” So I set off on a web search to find a good breakfast bar recipe. There are a lot of different versions out there from easy to complicated. I don’t like complicated breakfast bars. After trial and error I came up with a recipe that worked for me and my time commitment. Time is precious around here.

Blackberry Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Servings: 8 – 10
Prep Time: 20 minutes (that’s fast folks!)
Bake Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups black berry jam, or any type of jam you prefer 

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. In a large bowl mix everything together, but the jam.
3. Take 2 cups of the mixture and press it into the bottom of an 8 inch square pan, coated with cooking spray.
4. Spread the jam evenly over the top of the firmly pressed mixture.
5. Take remaining mixture and spread it over the jam, press down lightly.
6. Bake for 25 minutes
7. let the bars cool for 15 minutes and cut into squares.