December 7, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I love oatmeal. After Dr. Young-Ho Yoon showed me the instapot oatmeal beautifulness, I’ve been inspired ever since. The kids need variation, and my daughter yesterday reminded me there were blue berries that needed to be eaten. I didn’t have enough for just blue berry baked oats, but I grabbed a mushy apple. This is a great left-over fruit recipe adapted from Cookie and Kate, Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries https://cookieandkate.com/baked-oatmeal-recipe/. Please click on her original recipe to give her credit. I simplified it and made my modifications in italics.

Baked Oatmeal with Left Over Mushy Fruit

INGREDIENTS

• ⅔ cup roughly chopped pecans (I used almonds as that is what I had)
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt (or ½ teaspoon regular table salt)
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (omitted since I did not have it)
• 1 ¾ cups milk of choice (I used cows milk as it’s what we had and I wanted to recycle the container)
• ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey (we used honey!)
• 2 large eggs or flax eggs (always use flaxseed eggs if possible which is 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed and 2 tablespoons of warmish water)
• 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 12 ounces or 1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries (or 2 ½ cups of your preferred berry/fruit, chopped into ½” pieces if necessary), (or we just used enough left over fruit to fill the bottom of the pan)
• Optional toppings additional fresh fruit

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, nuts, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Whisk to combine.
3. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine the milk, maple syrup or honey, egg, half of the butter, and vanilla. Whisk until blended.
4. Reserve about ½ cup of the berries for topping the baked oatmeal, then arrange the remaining berries evenly over the bottom of the baking dish (no need to defrost frozen fruit first). Cover the fruit with the dry oat mixture, then drizzle the wet ingredients over the oats. Wiggle the baking dish to make sure the milk moves down through the oats, then gently pat down any dry oats resting on top.
5. Scatter the remaining berries across the top.
6. Bake for 42 to 45 minutes, until the top is nice and golden. Remove your baked oatmeal from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.
7. I prefer this baked oatmeal served warm, but it is also good at room temperature or chilled (I’ll leave that up to you!). This oatmeal keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 4 to 5 days. I simply reheat individual portions in the microwave before serving.

And that is it! That is baked oatmeal with left over fruit! I’ll post the picture of the finished product when it’s done. Which is 21 minutes. This is definitely a longer recipe t han muffins, but I wanted to surprise our tween daughter.

Update: This early morning baking project was a success. Mr. Plastic Picker came home last night and asked if there was any left for him. I told him no. I’ll save him a piece next time. Tween daughter, teen son, Dr. Dear Friend, Dr. MM, Nurse L, Parents-in-law, were all fed a nutritious fiber rich nut rich breakfast with just a touch of sweetness and they liked it. No palm oil and I fed the people I care about. I love Mr. PP and he will get a piece next time.