Oat-standing Mornings

Baked oatmeal for every day

The summer heat that I longed for seems to have departed prematurely.  The tomatoes in my garden haven’t even ripened yet (the chipmunks keep stealing them, but that’s another story) and now the nights are getting cold and some days are barely cracking 20C.  I fear my last trip to the beach is already behind me.

Where I live the kids head to class the Tuesday after Labour Day. A short week is a good way to ease back into the routines of school morning because, despite good intentions, things usually aren’t settled right away.  There’s a lot of change going on and it’s easy to get overstimulated and overwhelmed.

For that reason I like to make the first week back at school an easy one when it comes to meals.  This is not the week to flex new recipes with unfamiliar flavours or to commit to complex preparations.  It’s comfort food week around here.

Baked oatmeal is an easy comfort food.  It’s delicious, easy to customize, mostly hands-off, and the leftovers keep well for another day.  It can be in the oven in just a couple of minutes and bake while you’re going about your morning routine.  If you aren’t up for baking in AM you can easily make a batch on the weekend or the evening before and it re-heats a breeze.  It tastes ALMOST like a dessert and is pretty darned healthy.  What’s not to like?

While baked oatmeal certainly isn’t classic cuisine it follows a basic formula, the kind that are a good trick to have up your sleeve. You can double it or even halve it without resorting to a calculator.  Make it a few times and you’ll barely need to measure.  That’s a kitchen win right there.

If you or any of your breakfast eaters are vegan/plant-based you can easily adapt.  Any of the plant-milks work just fine, and honey can be swapped for maple syrup, brown sugar, or coconut sugar with no problem at all. Butter can be replaced with a vegan substitute or even coconut oil (which I prefer!)  Because the eggs are included as a binder and not a leavener they can be replaced with flax eggs.  1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons of water = 1 egg, so feel free to substitute accordingly.  Just let the flax mixture sit for a couple of minutes to “gel” before using.  Easy as pie oatmeal and your omnivores won’t notice a thing.

Follow along with the formula and soon you’ll be making this in your sleep even before the coffee kicks in.

The Gear:

• Two bowls

• Whisk

• Spatula

• Measuring cups

• Measuring spoons

• Glass pan (8x8, or a 10 inch pie plate)

The Ingredients:

• 2 cups large flake oatmeal

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 3/4 cups milk (or plant milk)

• 2 eggs (or 2 flax eggs, see above)

• 1/3 cup honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 3 cups chopped fruit, fresh or frozen (divided)

The Technique:

• Preheat the oven to 375F.

• Combine oatmeal, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in one bowl.

• In the other bowl whisk the eggs and combine with the milk, honey, vanilla, and butter. If your milk and eggs are fridge cold the butter/oil will probably seize rather like this. This is not a problem (at least in this recipe).

  

• Scatter 2 to 2 1/2 cups of fruit in the bottom of your baking dish.

  

• Combine the wet and the dry ingredients.

  

• Pour the oatmeal mixture over the fruit and spread evenly to cover.

  

• Scatter the remaining fruit over the top.

  

• Bake for 40-45 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and surface is firm and slightly golden.

The oatmeal will be molten lava/napalm level hot when it comes out of the oven so refill your coffee and let things rest a few minutes. Sleepyheads will come straggling out of bed when the wafts of cinnamon and toasty oatmeal tease them from slumber. Serve warm or at room temperature, with or without yogurt.

You can get as creative as you dare with fruit and spice combinations. Peaches with cardamom and coconut milk. Rhubarb with ginger. Apples with extra cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg. Pears and cranberries and almonds!

The recipe has plenty of wiggle room to add extra things without dramatically affecting the texture. Mash up an overripe banana or grate a sad-looking apple. Throw in a handful of nuts or coconut or a bit of dried fruit. A couple of tablespoons of hemp or flaxseed will hide themselves nicely. Add some citrus zest. Use up your bits and pieces and no one will be the wiser.

Oats and fruit are great breakfast and they go down easy when they feel like a treat. Make some baked oatmeal and get your week off to an oat-standing start.