Baked Strawberry Oatmeal

A breakfast/brunch like no other, this Baked Strawberry Oatmeal will make you want to jump up and dance to Ed Sheeran’s new track Bibia Be Ye Ye like there’s no tomorrow! (Yes, his new album’s out – FINALLY – and yes, this baked oatmeal deliciousness is THAT good!) 😀

Hello to you, lovely reader! It’s March already and that means big-time birthday month here in The Foodscape household. To say I’m excited would be an understatement (except for the fact that my bank account’s weeping)! 😛 We’ve been birthday shopping for Mr. Foodscape; I’ve got an awesome gift ready for him and we’ve been enjoying Ed Sheeran’s sweet sweet album ÷ (read: ‘Divide’) on loop all weekend! Life is good 🙂

This weekend, I also made strides in the kitchen. I baked the most amazing Turkey and Cheese Rolls for the very first time (more on that in a later post!) and I finally convinced myself to go healthy with breakfast and move on from delicious stacks of pancakes to Baked Strawberry Oatmeal. For now… 😉

On Friday afternoon I came across this beautiful recipe for Blueberry Baked Oatmeal by Laura who blogs at JoyFoodSunshine, and I thought to myself, this weekend I’m going to try making a lavish, indulgent, healthy breakfast instead of our mandatory weekend pancake binge. Yes, I did just say ‘lavish’, ‘indulgent’ and ‘healthy’ in the same sentence! No, I’m not taking it back. Because it’s true! So, after scouring through the contents of my refrigerator I decided to make Baked Strawberry Oatmeal, with the help of Laura’s recipe and some tweaks of my own.

Here’s the deal, I didn’t expect Baked Oatmeal to be SO good! In the past, whenever I heard or read the words ‘Oats’ or ‘Oatmeal’, my mind immediately conjured up images of gluggy, goopy, weird textured porridge. Thankfully this Baked Strawberry Oatmeal changed it all! 😀

Here’s what you need:

Fresh Strawberries – 500 g, sliced or cubed
Gluten-free Rolled Oats – 1 cup
Almond Meal – 1/4 cup
Baking Powder – 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda – 1/8 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Cinnamon Powder – 3/4 tsp
Brown Sugar – 3 tbsp
Vegetable Oil – 1 tbsp
Milk – 1/2 cup
Greek Yogurt – 1/4 cup
Egg – 1
Honey – 2 tbsp
Orange Zest – 1/2 tbsp
Vanilla Extract – 1/2 tsp
2 tbsp Rolled Oats and 1 tbsp Brown Sugar for topping
Extra honey for serving (optional)

Here’s how you make this delicious Baked Strawberry Oatmeal:

Preheat your oven to 175 °C.
In a bowl, whisk oil, milk, Greek yogurt, egg, honey, orange zest and vanilla extract until creamy and smooth. Keep aside.
In a larger bowl, mix the oats, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar. Stir until well combined.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until well incorporated. Add in half of the chopped strawberries and stir.
Pour the Oatmeal batter into a well-greased 8-inch square pan.
Top with the remaining chopped strawberries and then sprinkle the rolled oats and brown sugar atop the berry layer.
Pop into the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
Once done, cool for a few minutes and serve warm; or allow to cool completely, refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) and serve chilled.

Who would’ve known Strawberries and Cinnamon are a flavour match made in heaven? (If you’ve known this all along, you have every right to think I’m downright stupid for having missed out on this combination for 23 whole years!) I cannot tell you how much I loved this Baked Strawberry Oatmeal. It had the perfect crisp-meets-gooey-goodness texture, was subtly sweet and it celebrated the marriage of strawberries and cinnamon beautifully! Needless to say, a little honey (or a LOT), made it all the more amazing!

The first bite I took, I was stunned. As the initial hits of heat-y cinnamon and tart strawberries tingled my taste buds, I was transported to my happy place. Instantly I wanted to blast my jam and do my own weird hip-shaking-head-bobbing dance! Which I did, by the way! It was a very Hugh-Grant-dancing-in-Love–Actually moment! 😛

This breakfast of Baked Strawberry Oatmeal is both healthy and filling, just what you need to fuel your day’s adventures! Give this recipe a try; you’re going to be doing your own weird dance, I promise! 😀