Baked Oatmeal ~ A Recipe

Anybody run into problems thinking of something for breakfast? We love baked oatmeal around here; we have it at least once a week. It's sweet (but no refined sugar!) and filling, and pretty easy to make. I have the recipe memorized now, and it's a tweakable recipe (which I love) so you can have some fun with it!

So today you get a recipe with some ideas for tweaking and also a method to make this with the least amount of trouble! I can mix this up faster than my oven preheats now, and I use the least amount of dishes possible. (Because I loathe washing dishes.)

First up, cut up your butter into hunks and put them in your 13x9 pan. Put that pan in the oven and preheat it to 350. (One dish.)

While your oven is preheating, and the butter is melting, gather your ingredients. Oatmeal, milk, a sweetener (we've used honey, raw sugar, and maple syrup, and I like maple syrup best, but all are good), eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. (I forgot to gather the salt and cinnamon for the picture. Forgive me.)

Dump them all in a mixing bowl and stir it up. I use a 2 c. measuring cup for the milk, and then measure the maple syrup in it, and then crack the eggs into it. The oatmeal, I measure with a dry measuring cup, then I also have to use a tablespoon and teaspoon for everything else. (Five dishes. Oh, six with the mixing spoon.) (Oh, and extra note: I used 4 eggs because our chickens are laying itty-bitty eggs right now.)

By about this time, the butter should be melted. Now, if you have extra time let the butter cook in the oven for a while longer and let it get nice and brown. Makes a lovely flavor. I usually don't take the time to do this, but it really enhances the oatmeal. (And if I'm being completely honest, the only way I know this is because I got distracted one morning and left the butter in the oven too long. I think it was the goats escaping.)

Carefully pour almost all of the butter into your oatmeal mix. I leave some in the pan so that the oatmeal won't stick.

Then pour the oatmeal back into your pan, and put it in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

When it comes out, you have this deliciousness. It's a nice, quick breakfast that doesn't take much thought. And only uses 7 dishes! Wahoo!

Now, how can you tweak this? Besides using a different sweetener and browning the butter, you can add different spices, add fruit (blueberries and peaches are good), add more or less sweetener, and more or less salt. If I use raw sugar, I'll use less salt, but maple syrup and honey need a little bit more. When I started making this recipe, I only made a third of this recipe, but I doubled it at some point, and now we're up to tripling it. So if you don't need as much, the method is 1.5 cup oatmeal to 1 egg.

Now for the recipe specifics!

4.5 cups whole rolled oats
1.5 cups milk
1 cup sweetener (maple syrup, honey, raw sugar; use more or less depending on your tastes)
3 eggs (unless they are really small eggs like mine, then use 4)
1 T. baking powder
1 T. vanilla
1 T. cinnamon
2 t. salt
1.5 sticks of butter (3/4 cup)

Melt the butter in a 13x9 pan in the oven while it's preheating to 350. Mix up the rest of the ingredients, add the butter when it's melted, and then pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

If you use a dry sweetener, it won't need to bake as long as with a wet sweetener, but it tastes best with a little crunch, so just keep your eyes on it after 30 minutes.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you make it, and if you tweak the recipe!