This baked oatmeal is like the dressed up weekend version of my favorite weekday oatmeal. I have some sort of oatmeal or porridge every day during the week, so when the weekend comes around I usually favor eggs or pancakes. Something that feels a bit more special and celebrates the fact that it is in fact the weekend. This baked oatmeal offers the best of both worlds, as it elevates your typical oatmeal in a crowd-pleasing, fresh-from-the-oven package. It is most definitely worthy of weekend breakfast status.
When you have a toddler, you are waking up at the same early hour no matter what the calendar dictates. Unless said toddler is teething or sick, in which case, you’ve been up for much of the night. Sorry. Gone are the days of waking with my natural rhythm on Saturday and Sunday. Surprisingly, I am okay with that. Of course I have my moments where an extra few hours of sleep would be amazing, but mostly I’ve come to relish our slow and long weekend mornings. The upside of waking up at 6:30 or 7 on weekends is that you have the whole morning ahead of you. For us that usually means making extra special breakfasts and sourdough bread for the week. We’re nerds like that.
I came up with this baked apple oatmeal on a rainy Sunday a couple weeks ago. We had pancakes the day before, only 2 eggs in our fridge and lots of apples. Breakfast had to be apple oatmeal. This recipe was the happy result. Even Nick, who is not a huge fan of oatmeal, loved this. Indeed, it has a lot going for it. I shred two large apples into the oat mixture to give each bite a burst of apple flavor. Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and nutmeg complement the apple and fill your kitchen with a divine aroma. To make this oatmeal even more special, I added a crunchy nut topping to add a bit of texture and an almond butter caramel drizzle. The caramel not only adds sweetness, but also keeps the baked oatmeal moist. You can use any leftover caramel to drizzle on yogurt and ice cream. It is addictive. You may just want to double the caramel recipe at the outset to ensure you have this caramel in your life for more than a day.
With the holidays rapidly approaching, I think this baked oatmeal is a great recipe to have in your arsenal. It is easy, affordable and relies mostly on pantry/fridge essentials. It would be a delicious breakfast to serve to a crowd at the holidays. You can also prep it for yourself to have on hand for a quick breakfast throughout the week. I like to serve a square with a generous drizzle of the caramel sauce and a large dollop of yogurt.
I hope you are enjoying the holiday season so far! xx Maggie
Baked apple oatmeal with crunchy nut topping + vegan caramel drizzle
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 6 servings
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups oats
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/3 cup raisins
Wet Ingredients
- 2 eggs, preferably organic/pasture-raised
- 2 1/4 cups milk of choice (I used coconut almond milk)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp coconut oil or ghee, melted
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1/4 tsp vanilla powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 2 large pink lady apples (or other tart-sweet baking apple), grated, plus 1 more apple to slice for topping
Crunchy nut topping
- 1/4 cup almonds, chopped
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- Small pinch sea salt and cinnamon
Vegan Caramel Sauce
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- Juice of half lemon
- Pinch of sea salt
- Pinch of vanilla bean powder (or splash of vanilla extract)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and rub the inside of a 9x13 inch baking dish with coconut oil or ghee.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, maple syrup and oil until well-combined. Stir in orange zest and grated apple.
- Pour milk and apple mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Thinly slice remaining apple and arrange on top any way you prefer.
- In a small bowl, mixture together nuts, seeds, oats, coconut sugar and coconut oil until well combined, Scatter evenly over oats.
- Baked for approximately 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, make the caramel sauce. In a small saucepan set over medium-low heat, whisk together caramel ingredients until melted together and smooth. This will only take a few minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Drizzle caramel over oatmeal, slice into six squares and serve. Enjoy!
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