Friday Faves – Tri 2 Cook makes Butternut Thyme Bars
Happy Friday everyone! Hope you had a great week back at work after the Thanksgiving holiday. Today’s Friday Favs is another local Boston blogger. Shannon from Tri 2 Cook was one of the first bloggers I ever met in real life. Shannon is a triathlete and she loves to mix up really unique flavor combinations in the kitchen (think blueberry, goat cheese, basil pie or white chocolate wasabi truffles). I’ve had the chance to enjoy some of her creative creations and they’ve always been amazing.
Hi Beantown Baker readers! I’m Shannon, and I blog over at Tri to Cook. As a fellow resident of Beantown, I post about my adventures in the kitchen (here’s where the “Cook” comes into play) and swimming/biking/running (and here’s the “Tri” part). I love to play around in the kitchen, baking and cooking my way through new ingredients and flavor combinations 🙂 I also like to throw in healthy ingredients and substitutions as much as I can!
This recipe came about as I sat with 3 butternut squashes staring at me on the counter. I love butternut squash, but wanted to try something different. Butternut Coconut Jam turned out to be exactly what I was looking for! I was smitten upon tasting this and immediately starting brainstorming with things to do with it. A crumble bar, with jam instead of cooked down fruit? Done and done.
Given my penchant for playing with the boundary between sweet and savory, I added some thyme to the crust of these bars, but I bet rosemary or sage would be good options as well. The crust balanced the sweetness of the jam well, creating a goodie that passes for a delicious snack or breakfast!
Butternut Thyme Bars – from Shannon
Printable Recipe
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup oat flour (just oats ground in a coffee grinder or food processor)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp freshly chopped thyme
1/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, whatever you have on hand)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1c butternut coconut jam
Preheat oven to 350deg.
In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (oats through nuts). Grate butter into the oat mixture and work in the butter with your fingers until you get a crumbly, pebble-like mixture.
Whisk together greek yogurt and milk in a small bowl and add to the oat mixture with a fork, stirring with a fork until just combined.
Spray a 9″sq baking pan with nonstick cooking spray (or line with parchment, so the ends hang over the pan). Add 2/3 of the oat mixture and press into the pan. Spread the butternut coconut jam evenly onto the top of the bottom layer. Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the top.
Bake for 50-55min, until the oats are golden brown. Cool on a rack and allow to cool completely. Shape into your desired-size bars.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’m not a huge mushroom fan, but the cranberry risotto sounds absolutely fantastic! Thanks for the idea, Katie :).
What a great recipe Katie!
I am in awe of your description of mushrooms. that recipe is awesome and so is the idea to cook them in butter and red wine! if non mushroom lovers are not converted after this post, there is no help for them!!
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I am a huge mushroom lover. This recipe sounds wonderful!
I am a HUGE fan of mushrooms, I put them in everything! This will probably be dinner tonight!
I’m definitely with you in the first camp, though I will tell you – I’ve converted the boyfriend into a semi-mushroom lover, so maybe there is a person who lies a bit in between after all! This looks heavenly.
I am definitely not a mushroom lover but this recipe looks amazing!
Katie can make these for me anytime! Great recipe and great guest post!
OMG this combines so many of my favorite things into one dish! I’ve already added it to next week’s menu. Thanks so much for introducing me to a fun new blog!
I’m on the verge of being a mushroom lover – when raw the texture creeps me out but I’ve discovered I love the flavor and like them when cooked. I would love to eat this dish!
It is bad that I thought the sneak peak picture looked like mashed potatoes? That can only mean the risotto must be extra creamy!
It is bad that I thought the sneak peak picture looked like mashed potatoes? I think that just means this risotto must be extra creamy!
Thanks Jen for including me in your Friday Faves and for saying such nice things about my writing! This dish was fun to make and was really good on a cold winter night. Thanks all for the comments! Even those from the mushroom haters 🙂
Aren’t portobello mushrooms the best? So many different things you can do with them!
What more Can I say, a combination of my favorite ingredients… Mushroom and risotto! It’s nice to see a lot of mushroom recipe’s this past few days.
What a creative recipe, I love it! Definitely the perfect way to kick off your cool Friday Favs feature 🙂