Baked Oatmeal

I have discovered recently (within the past couple of years) that I really love oatmeal cookies. Not oatmeal raisin, just oatmeal. If nuts or chocolate chips are thrown in, that's peachy, but keep the raisins and craisins and other "sins" to yourself - or at least out of MY cookie!

That got me thinking that I might actually like eating oatmeal now. I used to not like it, but I also used to not like grits (it goes back to my "texture thing") but I love grits now so I might could get on board with oatmeal, too. Still, I'm timid when it comes to trying new things and I like to baby step into it. As I was wasting too much time on pinterest, I found a recipe for individual baked oatmeal cups. Hmm. Baked oatmeal? That sounds at least cookie-related. And it's small so they can be shared and enjoyed over time without needing guests or a huge commitment. So I pinned it and it sat for a while. The recipe I found was super-healthy - no sugar, sweetened by applesauce, including mashed banana. I started losing interest around the banana part, but I read through the comments and found there were plenty of people who were suggesting alternatives or just leaving the banana out. I decided I might could get on board with this after all.

Still, we don't keep applesauce in the house. I'm sure Jeff would eat it, but I had just been to the store not 6 hours ago and applesauce wasn't anywhere on the radar and I wasn't about to go back out just for that. So I started searching the internet for alternative recipes for baked oatmeal that might work. I found one that was much more my speed - butter instead of banana, brown sugar instead of applesauce. Yup. This is definitely sounds more in the neighborhood of "cookie" and less like "healthy breakfast" which I'm totally fine with! I combined the two recipes and made a few changes of my own, and this is what I came up with!

3 c. oatmeal

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

3/4 c. dark brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1 c. milk

2 eggs

Put cupcake liners into a 12 cup muffin tin, then spray the liners with cooking spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cup and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Verdict: Yeah, I can eat oatmeal like this! I had one while it was still warm with a big glass of milk. Yum! It doesn't even need chocolate! The help with portion control is much needed. I froze half of them and stuck the other half in the fridge for grab-and-go snacks. Jeff gave them a big thumbs up, too!