Baked Oatmeal

I grew up eating oatmeal everyday for breakfast. Every morning, my grandmother would have a steaming bowl of oatmeal waiting for us when we woke up. As much as I love oatmeal, after awhile, the same old white stuff gets... well a bit boring. (Sorry mam!)

While at university, I came across this recipe for baked oatmeal. I'd never heard of the stuff. Baked oatmeal? People bake oatmeal? How does that work? Do you make the standard oatmeal and then bake it? So many questions. Only one way to get answers. I tried out the recipe and tasted awesomeness! Oatmeal had never tasted so good in my book. Perfectly sweet, chewy, fruity, cinnamony... like granola bar meets cookie. Total yum!

The amount of sugar and butter in this recipe makes it not an everyday breakfast kind of deal. You might even think you're making oatmeal cookies when you read the ingredients,  but believe me when I say I could totally eat this everyday.


Just a couple of things to consider:

• Don't use quick-cooking oats. The large flake ones work best for this recipe. 
• Any dried fruit would work with this recipe, but my personal preference is dried cranberries. 
• I know it looks like a pie, but don't bother with cutting. To serve, just scoop it into individual bowls and add some warm milk.
• If you want to go all the way down the path to cookie-dom that this recipe is, you could absolutely leave out the dried fruit and instead sprinkle some chocolate chips over the dish right before you serve it.

Baked Oatmeal

3 cups oats (not quick-cooking)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup dried cranberries, raisins, dried cherries, or other dried fruit

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, melted (you can substitute applesauce for 1/4 cup of the butter if you want)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. 

In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and dried cranberries. In a smaller bowl, mix together the milk, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and whisk to combine. 

Pour into a deep 9″ pie plate or an 8×8″ or 9×9″ baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

Serve immediately with some warmed milk.

Serves 8.



Enjoy!

Ash  :)