Now you can have your cake and eat it too. My family refers to this favorite breakfast recipe as “oatmeal cake.” You can make it and bake it right away, but I like to assemble it the night before, stick it in the fridge and then bake it in the morning. It will make your house smell amazing! This recipe is adapted from “Maple-cinnamon apple & pear baked oatmeal” from Ohsheglows.com
Ingredients
2 cups regular rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup applesauce
1 fresh pear OR half a (15oz) can of pears, DRAINED and chopped
2 apples, peeled and diced as small as you can
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional, leave out if you have a baby who cannot chew)
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
In a 9x13 baking pan (or other casserole type dish), mix together the oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Stir well.
In the same 9x13 pan, pour in milk, applesauce and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Cut and peel the apples
Drain and chop the pears
Stir apples and pears into the oatmeal, spread them out evenly.
If using nuts, sprinkle them on top and gently press them into the oatmeal.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes
If you like your oatmeal milky and loose, bake it for 30 minutes
If you like your oatmeal well done, cook it for 45 minutes
You can even eat this uncooked if you like an “overnight oatmeal” type of texture, everything is safe to eat uncooked