2011, Recipe 120: Gingerbread Baked Oatmeal

Since I started running last fall, I've been on the constant search for good pre- and post-workout meals. I love oatmeal but I get tired of the tried and true methods (raisins or craisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar) and start looking for some new ones. Beth M at Budget Bites has been on a baked oatmeal kick for a while and I wanted to see my way inside the hype! This is a slight variation on her recipe. AND my first time doing step-by-step photos.

Somehow in more than 20 years of oatmeal consumption I've never had baked oatmeal. Granted, it takes a lot longer than regular instant oatmeal so it's not something I would make on a week day morning BUT it lasts a lot longer. I'm not a big fan of leftovers. No matter how good the meal is, I don't want that same leftover more than once. I probably get that from my dad. He's the same. But at least his was a part of his upbringing. He's one of 9 children so there weren't exactly a whole lot of leftovers in their house growing up! To the oatmeal!

• 1/3 cup dark molasses
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I bumped it up to 1 1/2)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I bumped it up to 3/4)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (my addition)
• 2 cups milk
• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together the molasses, brown sugar, eggs, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Once everything is well combined, whisk in the milk.

2) Stir in the oats. Coat an 8x8 (or similar sized) baking dish with non-stick spray and pour the oat mixture in. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until the oats have soaked up all of the moisture and the center of the dish is firm to the touch.

3) Serve hot or refrigerate and eat cold.

The ingredients playing in the bowl

Whisking in the milk. I love this shot!

Whisking in the oatmeal. It should be very wet at this point.

This is about the consistency of a slurry. It's quite liquid.

I tapped down a few errant oats poking up in clumps in the dish before I put it in the oven.

I liked the cracks in the top. It should have a cake bar-like (more on that in a minute) consistency on top and be almost gooey and thickly wet on the bottom (more on that, too).

Beth's recommendation to put it in a bowl like cereal with milk.

Result: Mixed. I forgot to prepare Rashan for the mixed textures. Oops. He HATED this warm. Like took one bite, barely chewed it and said no. I said, "Oh wow." Then he tried it without the milk and still didn't like it. It was like feeding a child. He's usually not picky and he likes oatmeal so this was surprising. I tried it and thought it was just okay. The molasses was more pronounced than I would have liked. I almost felt like molasses was all I could taste. That makes sense for a gingerbread-style recipe. I just wasn't mentally ready.

The next day, things changed. I tried it cold. The molasses had calmed down to a reasonable level (LOL) and there was one texture. This time I liked it! As a matter of fact, I ate it pre-run with some peanut butter and felt like it would have gone perfectly with a glass of milk. I could also see myself taking this as a small bar on a run and eating it in place of one of those nutrition supplements. It was cool! I would make this again with less molasses.