Blueberry Bars with Cranberry Naturals Juice

Happy Monday, everyone!  Yes, even this corporate slave wishes everyone a happy start to the work week... perhaps this will start it on a better foot than my usual grumpy post-weekend self.

Some folks representing Cranberry Naturals sent me a couple of bottles of juice to try.  These juices are sweetened with Stevia and are free of things like high-fructose corn syrup and artificial stuff.

I'm not a juice drinker.  Something about the aftertaste makes me avoid it, unless I am really, really thirsty.  However, "The Ukrainian" loves drinking berry-flavored juice and would drink more of it if it weren't for the sugar content.

Problem solved.

My non-juice drinking self decided to cook with the stuff instead.  I had a pint of fresh blueberries that were inching past their ideal freshness, so I popped them into a saucepan and added some of the cranberry apple flavor to make the filling for THESE vegan blueberry oat bars.

Making the crust...

Layering.

The fresh-outta-the-oven look:

I cut these up and wrapped them for the freezer before I went too crazy.  I've been doing this so that I can bake a lot without having to get rid of leftovers quickly.  The best part is, I can munch on a healthy treat basically whenever I please.

The cranberry juice added a little tartness to the filling that would not have been there had I used straight apple juice like the recipe states, but I actually like the additional flavor.  I could not tell that there was anything different about this juice, so I'd definitely get this again for others to drink... and for me to use for baking.

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FTC Disclaimer: I was sent samples of this product and was not obligated to write a positive review.