Oatmeal Fruit Bars

It's a drippy, rainy, gray kind of day here in IndiUcky, and I found myself craving something sweet, and thought I'd do some baking.  This is more of a fall recipe, but today just felt right for this particular piece of comfort food.  I hide a teeny bit of nutrition in here with the wheat flour, oats, and fruit, but I'm not going to lie and say that this is a healthy snack.

Oatmeal Fruit Bars

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar or 1/4 cup honey

1 egg

1/4 cup apple juice

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Cloves to taste
Cinnamon to taste
Ginger to taste
Nutmeg to taste
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped nuts - optional
3/4 to 1 cup of fresh blueberries, washed and drained thoroughly.  Frozen can be substituted, but must be completely thawed
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, cut into eighths, and then sliced into 1/4 inch slices.

Cream the butter in a bowl until it becomes light colored and fluffy.  Add brown sugar and white sugar/honey, egg, apple juice, and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly.  In another bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and flour.  Add to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Add oats and optional nuts.  Mix well.   Fold in fruit. Do not mix so much that the blueberries break open and stain the dough purple.  Resulting dough should somewhere between cookie dough and cake batter in consistency.  If it is too thin, add more oats.  If it is too thick, add more apple juice.

Put dough in a greased 6 x 6 inch baking dish.  Put into a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a knife put into the center of the dish comes out hot and clean.  Allow to cool before slicing and serving.