It’s back to school this week. Time for packing lunch boxes and meal prepping for the week ahead. I’m mixing up a batch of seeded oat crunchies. They’re very oaty and slightly chewy, as you’d expect a good crunchie to be. This South African favourite gets a remake with wholemeal flour, coconut oils and omega-rich seeds. I sweeten the mixture with honey and natural cane sugar. Honestly, they’re the best healthy seeded oat crunchies I’ve ever made.
These healthy seeded oat crunchie recipe is like your Granny’s secret recipe, but with a few healthier tweaks. The chocolate yoghurt drizzle is obviously unnecessary but for treat days, a really lovely addition. I’ve used a combination of butter and coconut oil. A 50/50 compromise helps to include the nutritional benefits of coconut oil, without sacrificing the flavour that only butter offers. I’ve replaced the golden syrup with honey. You could of course use maple syrup too. These oat crunchies are irresistibly good. Do give them a try.
The best healthy seeded oat crunchies
Makes 24-30
- 80g butter
- 90g coconut oil
- 110g natural, brown cane sugar
- 60ml honey
- 100g desiccated coconut
- 200g whole rolled oats
- 70g wholemeal flour
- 70g all purpose cake flour or white spelt flour
- a pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 40ml cold water
White chocolate and yoghurt drizzle
- 50g white chocolate
- 60g Greek yoghurt
- Preheat the oven to 170º C. Grease and line a 28 x 18 cm baking tin with parchment paper. Place the butter, coconut oil, sugar and honey in a saucepan. Bring up to the boil, stirring from time to time until the sugar is dissolved. In the meanwhile, combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the cold water and add to the honey butter.
- The hot mixture will foam up and froth so watch that it doesn’t boil over. Pour the hot liquid into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Press the biscuit mixture firmly into the baking tin and smooth over with the back of a spoon. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden and cooked through. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes before cutting into squares. Allow to cool completely in the tin before placing on a wire rack to air.
- If you’re making the drizzle, heat the chocolate and yoghurt together in the microwave until melted. Drizzle randomly over the cool crunchies.
If you love a sweet little something to go with your tea, here are a few more delicious ideas:
Anzac biscuits by Ottolenghi and Helen
10 Comments. Leave new
Hello Di
I made these yesterday and they are truly scrumptious. However, I seem to battle to find a tin that measures 28 x 18cm, so I used my baking tray but they seemed to be spread too thin and broke up into odd sized pieces not squared like yours. They were yummy though especially with the drizzle topping. Do you have any tips or advice on what I should do next time around?
Kind regards
Marie Duarte
Sure Marie-Anne. When baking, the size of the tin is quite crucial as this determines the required baking time. If the tin is bigger than specified, the biscuits will be too thin and require a reduced baking time. It’s best to leave these crunchies to cool and firm up before cutting with a smooth bladed knife to prevent breaking up.
[…] of situation. My pantry is never without this staple. Just think, without oats there’d be no South African crunchies! Almost on the scale of a national disaster, that would be. There’s something so honest and […]
Yummy! These came out perfectly!!!! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re so welcome, Zoe. I make them often and we still love them. My girls’ favourite.
Quick question, are they meant to be hard coming out of the oven or must the be soft and will harden???
Hi Chris. It really depends on how you like them. Some would say, a little chewy is best. I like them with a bit of chewiness in the middle and more crisp on the outside.
Once they cool, they’ll definitely firm up and become more crunchie. If you prefer them with more of a biscuity snap, maybe add 5 minutes more to the bake time. Hope that helps. Let mw know how they turn out.
Hi, I would like to make these but don’t have wholemeal
flour or coconut oil, any suggestions what I could substitute with?
Hi, I would love to make your recipe but I am on a dairy-free and gluten free diet. Any suggestions for adapting it would be highly appreciated!
Hi Oana. I haven’t made it completely dairy-free or gluten-free before, but here’s what I would do to adapt it.
Make sure the oats is certified gluten-free. For the flour, I’d substitute half the flour with almond flour and the remainder, I’d divide between oat flour and gluten-free white flour or rice flour.
Using a combination of different flours will balance the flavours well. I’d replace the butter with coconut oil, about 150ml coconut oil in total should do. I hope this helps. Please do let me know if you manage. Kind regards Di