Individual Baked Oatmeal

I have been wanting to try baked oatmeal for a long time, but it wasn’t until I saw these individual baked oatmeals on Pinterest that I actually tried it – it seemed much more reasonable for 2 people to make lots of individual ones than one giant casserole of baked oatmeal, which we probably could not finish.

I don’t normally like oatmeal.  Call me crazy, but the mushy texture kind of makes me want to gag.  The only reason I eat it is because it’s healthy, so thank God I found this recipe which combines the healthfulness of the oatmeal and a much better texture!  Now I can actually enjoy my oatmeal!  The texture is more similar to a muffin: chewy on the top and soft in the center, but they contain no flour at all (so they are also gluten-free).  Plus, if you make a big batch of these babies and freeze them, it actually takes less time to heat one of these up than to make a real bowl of oatmeal!

I modified the original recipe to the ingredients I had on hand (the original recipe calls for applesauce, flaxseed and Stevia, all of which I didn’t have and didn’t miss!).  This seems like a recipe that you could really play with and customize to your likings.  Especially if you want them to be more kid-friendly (add chocolate chips or raisins!  And maybe even more sugar) or more healthy (use the flaxseed like the original recipe or experiment with sugar substitutes).  Here is the recipe that I followed (with pretty fabulous results!):

Individual Baked Oatmeal  originally from Sugar-Free Mom 

Yield: 20 muffins, Time: 20 min. active, 40 min. inactive

Please find the original recipe and ingredient list here.

My modifications:

• Used 1 cup brown sugar, not any Stevia
• Used 1 cup fresh blueberries (but fresh or frozen anything (like cranberries, apples, cherries etc.) would work.  Even raisins or chocolate chips or dried coconut would work, but I would probably use less than 1 cup)
• Added 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• Eliminated the flaxseed and applesauce
• I would also suggest increasing the amount of banana if you like banana!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, vanilla and sugar, then stir in all the fruit.

In another bowl, combine the oats, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Dump the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients; stir to mix well.

Pour in the milk and stir until combined.  The mixture will be pretty soupy – and it will seem too wet, but it’s not!

Scoop mixture into paper-lined muffin cups (I sprayed mine with cooking spray too just to make sure they would come out easily) – scoop with a measuring cup and make sure they have an even amount of liquid in each cup.  See how liquidy they look before baking?  It’s weird but they’ll turn out fine, don’t worry!

Bake 35-40 minutes or until the center of each muffin is set. (Mine took 35 min)

Cool and enjoy — or freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

To reheat from frozen, just pop them in the microwave for 30-40 seconds til warmed through.