I guess you can tell I’m quite fond of combining lavender & rose with these berries. Honeysuckle blossoms are also nice, but I can never get enough blossoms and I use the ones I have in my honeysuckle extract. But on to the recipe at hand! Not much to say, except that is extremely easy to make. You just start with a simple flour and oat dough, press 3/4 of it firmly into the bottom of a pan, put the cooked berries in the middle, then crumble the rest of the dough on top. Well, there a few more steps – but you get the idea! You could do a non-gluten version with oat flour, or a vegan one with coconut oil. Just search for recipes online – there are plenty.  I hope you enjoy getting to know the Mahonia berry! 

Mahonia Berry Oat Bars

1 dozen large bars or 24 smaller squares

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/2 cups flour
• 1 & 3/4 cups rolled oats 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup melted butter
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar or coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Berry topping:

• 2½ cups Mahonia Berries
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 4 tsp. cornstarch or xantham gum
• two teaspoons grated orange or lemon zest
• two whole lavender buds

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 or 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to overhang on the sides for easy removal.
• In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Add melted butter and work through dough until crumbly. Press 3/4 of this mixture into the bottom of your baking pan very firmly. Bake crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
• In a small pot, add the berries, sugar, lavender and orange zest. Cook for 15 minutes on low heat until the berries pop open. Let cool 5 minutes. Fish out the lavender buds. Pour the berry mixture on top of the crust.
•  Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture on top of the berry layer.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until golden. Cool completely in pan.
• Using paper overhang, carefully remove shortbread from pan; place on cutting board. Cut into 4 quarters; cut each quarter in half, then in half again, until you get the desired size/ amount of squares.

https://gathervictoria.com/2018/07/07/mahonia-lavender-oat-bars-berry-delicious/