Baked Cinnamon Apple Raisin Oatmeal

As you know, I've already decorated the house and taken to wearing sweaters in the morning in hopes that I can will the fall season and it's weather into early fruition. I think some of hat wishing and willing and pretending is starting to work because we've had some glorious 50 and 60 degree nights here in Virginia these past few weeks.

 The morning coolness lingers until about 9AM when the sun has had enough time to come up and start heating things up. It's lovely to take an early morning walk with Bear through the woods, come back and relax on the deck before the heat starts to drive us indoors.  This also allows me more of an excuse to bake warm things. Obviously the cake and cupcake baking never really stops, no matter the weather but this recipe also came out of necessity because every single morning Shaun worked he would stop at McDonalds on the way and get breakfast there.Unacceptable.

So after speaking with Steph about his terrible dietary habits, she recommended baked oatmeal. Something she makes once and lasts as a hearty breakfast throughout the week. I decided to make this recipe based on what I had lying around or what I picked up at the farmers market. The other great thing about this recipe is exact measurements are not really needed. I kind of eyeballed the oats, vanilla and mixing until I liked what I saw.

It

Was

Good

and here is how you can make it yourself:

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 tsps cinnamon

2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 stick of melted butter

2 tsps vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1 granny smith apple cut into chunks

Step 1. Grab all of your ingredients and butter up a baking dish and preheat your oven to 350

 

I typically use even less bowls than this but I wanted to try to make it pretty for blogland.  Looks like I still have some work to do.

Step 2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix the oats, baking powder, brown sugar and cinnamon together until the brown sugar is incorporated and thoroughly mixed through.

Step 3. Add the vanilla, milk, eggs and melted butter and mix thoroughly until everything is incorporated

Step 4. Add your diced apple, almonds, raisins or whatever else you would like to at this point and mix until everything is evenly distributed.

Step 5. Butter your baking dish and pour your oatmeal into it. 

Step 6. I added a little cinnamon sugar to the top for a bit of crunch and extra cinnamon sweetness but you can leave this out if you're not in love with cinnamon like me! 

Step 7. Bake for about 35 minutes. I like a little bit of crunch left in my apples so I typically bake mine for 30-35 but if you like yours more the consistency of apple pie bake closer to 40-45

Step 8. Take a picture of your dog sleeping sweetly like a little angel

Step 9. Enjoy!

After you have this oatmeal you will never ever go back to those dry little packets you microwave with water. The freshness and texture are just lacking with those and even if you add nuts and fruit it still has more of a sticky/goopy texture that I just can't get past. With the apples, raisins and almonds in this oatmeal the texture is perfect a perfect crunch, chew and that wonderful texture of a baked good.

I like to eat my oatmeal with a little bit of drizzled local honey and some fresh heavy cream. But if you like yours less sweet or dryer you can leave those out. Obviously you can also tweak the ingredients to your liking as I did with this one. I also picked up some local peaches and nectarines lately and I'm thinking a peach/raspberry/almond combination would be delish.