Strawberry Chia Jam Snack Squares.
I made us a snack.
I made us a snack in the height of my fruit obsession which peaked about 15 days ago.
I have eaten more strawberries than I thought existed in the universe.
This is what I did with the rest of them.
Throw them in a food processor, chop ’em up, boil them down and stir in delicious things like honey, vanilla and chia seeds. Be trendy! Make fake-but-real jam with chia seeds if you’re afraid to make real jam and do things with ball jars that don’t include tequila, lime and salt.
So this jam stuff is really, really good. Like really good. I had some on toast. I threw it on some chocolate almond butter and then some vanilla almond butter and one day I even added chocolate chips. This was back when I was living on cereal and toast so it was like a burn out kind of snack.
When I got sick of that, I made another batch to stuff inside of these bars. Remember these super old school oatmeal peanut butter snack squares I made EONS ago? No seriously. Like eons.
Those bars. They are a recipe I still make frequently. The perfect snack, breakfast, grab and go treat. Sometimes they taste like dessert but not when your usual dessert includes piles of chocolate cheesecake and trashy froyo and sprinkle smothered soft serve.
But I thought of them and wanted to throw the strawberry squishy stuff on top. Then I added a crumb topping, similar to what I put on this cake. And then I ate them all and swore I’ve never eat any again. (But I made them the next day. Details.)
I love them! Cute little squares that are snacks.
Strawberry Chia Jam Squares
Ingredients
strawberry chia jam
- 1 pound hulled strawberries
- 2 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons chia seeds
bars
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup milk
crumb topping
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
Instructions
- strawberry chia jam
- Add the strawberries to a food processor and pulse until they are in small chunks. Once in small pieces, add the strawberries and water to a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries cook down and the mixture becomes very juicy and saucy, about 5 to 6 minutes. You can mash the strawberries a little more if needed. Stir in the honey and vanilla extract. Stir in the chia seeds until combined, then turn off the heat. Allow the jam to sit at room temperature until it cools completely – it will thicken as it sits.
bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8×8-inch baking sheet with nonstick spray. (I also use coconut oil to grease pans.)
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter and sugar and mix on high speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add in flour, oats, salt and baking soda, mixing on medium speed. The dough will look crumbly. Add the milk with the mixer on low speed, and mix until a dough forms. If desired, you could add some chocolate chips here!
- Spread the batter in the greased pan. Next, spread the chia seed jam on top of the batter, leaving space around the edges.
crumb topping
- To make the crumb, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, salt and melted butter until combined. Whisk for a a good minute or two until the sugar begins to dissolve, then use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour. The mixture will be crumb-like and dry. Almost like a sludge or paste. This is what you want! Sprinkle the crumb on top of the jam. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the center of the bars don’t jiggle and are set. Let cool completely, then cut into 9 or 12 squares.
Notes
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41 Comments on “Strawberry Chia Jam Snack Squares.”
I will always have a fruit obsession. Ever since I saw your first recipe for these bars, i have made them so many times as breakfast (deliciously devilish but true). Love the idea of chia jam; I think you have convinced me to try it.
Who’s afraid of the big bag Jam Wolf? me, me, me!
Never have made jam before, like your chia seed version.
These bars look fabulous, like the day I discovered a Dyson Vacuum cleaner, can’t wait to try =)
Still haven’t made chia jam yet! Gotta get on that. Wish I had a big fat square of this for breakfast!
I love me a cute snack. But, I still have yet to even try chia seeds. I am the worst food blogger in all the evers.
Even though I don’t know what a chia seeds tastes like, I am craving these. Pinned!
I’m scared of making jam so this seems like a much better choice. Plus, if you made them two days in a row, they MUST be good! :)
Yum! My boyfriend loves strawberries I may surprise him with this after work :)
Chia jam has been on my list to try forever now! As soon as I get my kitchen back (in the middle of reno right now), I’m making both the jam and these bars. Yum. I can’t get enough fruit either (been true my whole pregnancy). I’ve actually been picking it INSTEAD of ice cream/froyo/other desserts. Crazypants.
nice recipe :D
yikes, these look divine!! Good work there, yummy mummy – to- be ;)
Are there 8 tbl of butter in the bars, or just 4? Looks like there might be duplicated info.
ah sorry! there are only 4. fixed it – thanks!
these looks so amazing!
LOVE this idea! I always find myself with more strawberries than I can solely eat in a week – and I always have chia seeds on hand – so this is the perfect thing!
Jam is fantastic, I may or may not have eaten half a jar of jam in the last 3 days…I tried making real jam once, DID NOT WORK. But chia jam i think I could handle!
These are perfectly snackable bars! I could probably eat batch after batch!
After a recent recipe I swore I’d never bake with strawberries again because I’m so obsessed with them I wanted to eat the whole batch of cakes but I might break that promise for these. These sound delicious!
Love this idea. I’m always trying to find different ways to use chia seeds!
Can you leave out the chia seeds? or will that effect how the jam will turn out? I have never eaten or cooked with chia seeds. BTW, I love your blog. Thanks!
no – you’d have to keep the chia seeds, they turn gelatinous when mixed with liquid so that is what creates the jam. if you leave them out, you will just have liquidy strawberry sauce! (which would probably still taste delish but not work with the bars.)
Welp, you’ve now convinced me I need to make chia jam immediately, and probably follow that up with making these bars. They look PERFECT.
this is an awesome recipe! i can definitely imagine how GOOD these would have tasted.. saving the recipe to make as they are perfect for a little afternoon treat when my sugar cravings hit. love it!
After about a year of forgetting about chia seeds, the past few weeks have been in love with them again. I’ve never made jam with them though even though I’ve heard great things and clearly yours looks fabulous!
This is my kinda jam!! And you can NEVER eat too many strawberries :)
I <3 those oatmeal snack bars. One of my favorite grab-and-go breakfasts. I also <3 strawberries, especially summer ones. So… clearly I need to make these strawberry chia bars ASAP. Yum.
I’m totally making these for my family this summer!
i love chia (in my overnight oats, pudding, etc.. ) and i love strawberries – i will love this jam.
Jam squares used to be my favorite treat at picnics… love how healthy these are and stunning photos!
Yummy!!!! This looks amazing. I just adore chia jams so much! Love the flavor of strawberries. great minds must think alike. I love that you’ve posted my favorite jams recipe.
This looks and sounds way too delicious….. You made me very, very VERY hungry.
You had me a chia jam! I make it all the time — one of these days I need to make a huge batch so I can do something fun with it (instead of spreading it on toast and overnight oats). Pinning these babies now.
You need to meld this recipe with your peanut butter one!
Yum! Chia seeds have become my new favorite food after avoiding them for years, I love a good jam bar!
I make a very similar recipe often for snack/dessert. I can’t wait to try making jam with chia seeds. I’m going to try it with frozen strawberries & rhubarb because that’s what I have on hand. Thanks so much for the recipe!
I have some chia seeds but I have yet to try chia jam and these bars might be just the thing to get me to try it!
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I have lots of strawberry jam that I made earlier this summer.. how much of your strawberry chia jam did you use in the recipe?
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Hi! Â Can you substitute the wheat flour for almond flour in this recipe?
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