Vanilla Chai Baked Oatmeal (Steel Cut)

I've been in a real breakfast rut lately. Most days I've been leaving TF and the Kidlet to their own devices for breakfast and just skipping my morning meal altogether. And most days that's been fine. But I'm starting to crave breakfast again. Just not feeling super enthused about getting up early to make it nor am I very enamored of a lot of the go-to quick breakfasts: cereal, toast, bagels, etc.

I made up a batch of cog last week and that was good. I don't really want cog for breakfast every day though. Fry-ups are tasty, but they tend to be neither healthy nor quick when I make them. Overnight oats are easy, but I'm not really feeling them lately. And I tried smoothies for breakfast for a while and found that they just didn't seem to agree with me. (Turns out I prefer my smoothies and shakes in the evening.)

So, after flailing around a bit and being generally indecisive, I figured that maybe it was time to give baked oatmeal another shot. I do have a couple good baked oatmeal recipes already, but I wanted something new. Originally I was going to try this cinnamon bun baked oatmeal, but I wasn't sure about substituting steel cut oats for the rolled. And, in looking for answers to my substitution question, I stumbled across a recipe for vanilla chai baked oatmeal. Now that sounds up my alley! And it already uses steel cut oats, so no worries about substitutions.

It came out pretty nice all-in-all. I did make a few tweaks, and I think I'd probably make a few more minor adjustments the next time I make it, but it's perfectly edible as is. I think I'd just use slightly less cardamom next time and maybe add a little coriander and star anise. And maybe scale the nuts back to 1/3 c. Other than that, it was pretty much perfect though.

Now that I think about it, maybe I'd try changing the cooking procedure around a little bit too. Adding melted butter to cold milk results in frozen chunks of butter. Heating the milk would keep the butter fluid and would allow for the opportunity to steep the spices and raisins a bit before they get added to everything else. And adding the cinnamon sugar topping before it goes into the oven does result in a nice dark top, but it sinks in and gets soft rather than crispy. I think baking it for a little while and then adding the cinnamon sugar would result in a crisp, rather than soft top.

So, I guess, when all's said and done, I'd probably change the recipe quite a bit. The flavours are lovely, I'd just like to tweak them a tiny bit. And the procedure as written in the original does produce a nice breakfast, I'd just like to see if I could work out a few kinks.

Vanilla Chai Baked Oatmeal

Adapted from Tastes of Lizzy T

Ingredients

• 2 c. milk
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 1/4 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1 c. steel cut oats
• 1/3 c. chopped pecans
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. (unsalted) butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. Combine milk, raisins, and spices in a pot and heat gently until milk is just steaming. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Stir pecans, salt eggs, maple syrup, vanilla, and melted butter into oats and mix well.
3. Pour milk mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine.
4. Pour mixture into a greased 9" deep dish pie plate (or similar baking dish).
5. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the surface.
7. Return to oven and continue baking for another 30 minutes.
8. Serve warm and drizzled with cream.