I've been obsessed with fancy oatmeals lately. I've tried peaches 'n cream, honey with nuts, and simple with brown sugar, but I was looking for something even better. Since I also happened to have a bundle of fresh strawberries on hand this week, I decided to look for a recipe involving both oates and strawberries. The recipe I chose to try is Strawberry Baked Oatmeal on Inspired Taste's website, see the recipe HERE. I was attracted to the fact that the recipe called for chocolate and bananas as well, and it seemed pretty straight forward. I've never baked oatmeal as the main ingredient in a recipe before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
I followed the recipe as posted except I chopped up a dark chocolate baking bar instead of chocolate chips (78% cacao), and I added 1/2 cup extra brown sugar to the top of the dish because I knew my family wouldn't like it if it wasn't sweet enough. In the end, I would say that the dark chocolate wasn't a great idea because it added a bitterness that could have been avoided with milk chocolate. This isn't the recipe creator's fault, though, because it was my edit.
I've gotta say it was the best oatmeal I've had. Instead of the normal soupy consistency of bland morning oates, it was moist and dense almost like a cake. The little surprise of biting into a strawberry or walnut was delightful as well. I made this as a dessert item, but I have a lot left over that I can eat for breakfast. That's another thing to note about this recipe, it makes a lot. Oatmeal is already filling, and when you make it more packed and fill it with other ingredients, you only need a few spoonfuls to feel full.
To summarize, this is a good recipe, and I wish I would have use chocolate chips as directed. It's a fun way to liven up oatmeal, and it can be used as a dessert or breakfast. It's filling with notes of sweetness and the wholesomeness of oates. I would recommend this to anyone else interested in different ways to prepare oatmeal.
