Baked Oatmeal

By doran65

Going home for the holidays can mean being force-fed giant breakfasts of bacon, bagels, and various Christmas cookies, but it can also mean unlimited access to my mom's full-sized, non-apartment kitchen, which gives me plenty of options for making my own meals.

Oatmeal has always been my go-to office breakfast, but I'd never tried baked oatmeal before this weekend. Not only is it less watery than packaged oatmeal but it has a much deeper, homemade flavor. I chose to start with the recipe from Everybody Likes Sandwiches for a few reasons:

It's a wonderful blog, the recipe didn't require half a cup of oil, and it was padded out with fruit.

My first attempt made the kitchen smell like a pie factory, and though I liked it, my family felt it needed a little more sweetness. So, the second time around, I took out the coconut (which we couldn't taste anyway) and added a bit of brown sugar.

Voila.

The result was a warm, filling, comparatively healthy alternative to Mom's bacon and egg smorgasbords. Plus, it's pretty infinitely adaptable. Dried cranberries, walnuts, or even peanut butter would all make excellent additions.

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats (Quaker old-fashioned, etc.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Dash each of cloves, nutmeg, and/or cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large apple, peeled and diced
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 2/3 cup apple cider
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 5 pecan or walnut halves, chopped
• Butter or shortening

Preparation

Step 1

1
Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a small casserole dish.

2
In a medium bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and other spices. Stir to mix. Add apples. Stir again and pour into casserole dish.

3
In a large glass measuring cup, slowly whisk milk, cider, and maple syrup together. Pour into oatmeal mixture.

4
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove, top with pecan bits, and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit for 5 minutes to cool, and serve