Baked Apple Pie Oatmeal

Last night, I managed to do some multi-tasking during my weekly Wednesday night class where I came up an oatmeal recipe while listening to my professor and taking notes. It also helps that he often re-tells the same stories every week, which provides me a good 10 minutes to zone out and think about important things, like food. =)

During this zoning out period, I was contemplating about what to make/eat for breakfast. I knew I wanted oatmeal but I also wanted to change it up a bit from my usual oatmeal routine. Since I usually either cook it over the stove or make overnight oats, I decided to try baking it this time. Last weekend, when I was doing some grocery shopping at Wholesome Choice, I bought a few apples that were on sale for $0.50/lb.  I still have some left, so I decided to make apple pie oatmeal. This is not your traditional apple pie because it does not include caramel. I substituted that for vanilla bean paste because the thought of eating caramel for breakfast was not appealing.

Baked Apple Pie Oatmeal

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 apple, diced

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 /2 tsp cinnamon sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Pinch of salt

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients. Set aside. Cut the apple in half, remove the core, and set aside the other half of the apple. Dice the apple into 1/2” chunks. Pour half of the oatmeal mixture into a ramekin or oven-safe bowl. Place the diced apples into the mixture and pour the remaining oatmeal mixture on top. With a spoon, gently spread the oatmeal evenly to completely cover the apples. Bake for 21-24 minutes.

 

Optional: You can use the remaining apple as a topping, store for later, or simply eat it as it is like I did.

Straight out of the oven

And into my mouth. CHOMP!

Overall, I really liked the baked apple pie oatmeal. I used the normal 2:1 ratio of 1 cup of water/milk for every 1/2 cup of oatmeal. However, I forgot that the natural juices of apples are released when cooked, so the texture of the oatmeal was a bit mushy. I don’t have a problem with that because I like oatmeal, but if mushy oatmeal isn’t your thing then I would suggest using less milk/water.