Apple and Cranberry Baked Oatmeal

Source: care2.com via Dawn on Pinterest

When I was a child I was not overly fond of oatmeal . . . not for breakfast or any other time . . . unless it was baked into cookies . . . then I could be gently persuaded to eat it.  I wasn't eating cooked oatmeal for love nor money.  It was just not my cup of tea . . . at all!

 

Clearly my mother was not all that persuasive or inventive . . . I dare say if a bowl of these lovely baked oats had been put down in front of me . . . I'd have gobbled it up . . . no problem!  Sorry mom!


 

This is so easy to make that there's really no excuse not to make it.  You just throw it together and pop it into the oven.  Run upstairs to take your shower and get dressed, and by the time you come back down it'll be scrummily ready to scarf down!

 

Tasty baked oats . . . toothsome and slightly crumbly . . . with a nicer bite than ordinary stove topped cooked oatmeal.

 

Lightly flavoured with cinnamon and golden syrup . . . or honey if you would prefer.

 

Stogged full of chunks of dried apple and sweet dried cranberries . . . poking here and there, sparkling with all the beauty of the crown jewels.

 

Other than the bit of butter that you stir into it at the beginning . . . it's totally fat free too.  Of course . . . having it with cream would negate all that good.  But go on . . . why not.

 

Dig in!!



*Country Farmhouse Baked Breakfast Oats*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Toothsome, crumbly, chock full of fruit, cinnamony and most important of all . . . a most delicious way to get your oats!

120g of old fashioned rolled oats (1 1/2 cups)
2 TBS butter
375ml of boiling water (1 1/2 cups)
375ml of milk (1 1/2 cups)
2 TBS golden syrup or honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
45g of chopped dried apples (1/2 cup)
75g of dried cranberries (1/2 cup)

To serve:
whole milk or single cream (cold or gently warmed)
cinnamon sugar

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter a medium glass baking dish.  Set aside.

Measure the oats into a large bowl.  Drop in the butter.  Pour the boiling water over top.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Stir in the milk, fruit, golden syrup (honey), ground cinnamon, and salt.  Combine well and then pour into the prepared baking dish.  Cover tightly with foil and then place into the heated oven.

Bake for 35 minutes, remove the foil and bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer, until thick and bubbly.

Spoon into heated bowls.  Serve hot with cream or milk drizzled around the cereal and a dusting of cinnamon sugar.