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
Details
Adapted from seriouseats.com
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
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