SRC: Chocolate Baked Oatmeal

Hi friends! It’s another SRC day. Every month I am always SHOCKED at how quickly it’s SRC time again. It means time is passing quickly… both for blog stuff and real life stuff. My first full semester working as a librarian has already come to an end, and we’ve been living in Nashville over 7 months now! Crazy stuff. But you know what isn’t crazy? How wonderful my Secret Recipe Club assignment for May was. [Betcha didn’t see that transition coming, now did ya? :)]

This month I was assigned to Food Ramblings, written by the lovely Elizabeth. She has tons of recipes on her blog, ranging from the indulgent to the uber healthy. My kinda girl! That’s exactly how I cook, so I had SUCH a hard time deciding what to make. As I was browsing through her archives basically everything sounded good to me. Maybe I was just hungry. 🙂 First, I really wanted to make this polenta with roasted tomatoes and spinach, I decided to wait until the summer for that–I’m sure it’ll be unbelievably delicious with fresh farmer’s market tomatoes. Then, I thought about making cheese and broccoli quinoa casserole, and finally landed on Chocolate Baked Oatmeal. It was only when I was writing this post that I realized it fell on Cinco de Mayo and I should have made something Mexican. Oh well, it was delicious. Though the baked oatmeal tasted rich and fudgy, it’s actually a pretty healthy breakfast. Well, as far as having chocolate for breakfast can be considered healthy. 🙂

Elizabeth’s original recipe called for making this baked oatmeal in muffin cups, which is SUCH a good idea. So why didn’t I do that? Ben. I asked his opinion and he thought it would be easier to just make a big pan of it. So that’s what I did. I also was nearly out of regular size muffin liners, and I never have luck greasing my muffin tin. She also used strawberries and peanut butter chips in her baked oatmeal, neither of which I had. So I used bananas and cinnamon chips and OH MY GOODNESS was that an awesome combination. I usually am not a banana oatmeal kinda girl but you can’t even taste it in this, especially if you mash up the banana really well. The cinnamon chips just add SO much flavor and little bursts of sweet cinnamon goodness. Later in the summer you can bet I’ll try that chocolate, strawberry, and peanut butter combination though… it sounds incredible, like a jacked up peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Before this, I was a newbie to chocolate baked oatmeal–usually I just make this plain version from my summer camp counselor days, and add my own toppings, but from now on I will be tempted to make this delightful chocolate version. Hope you enjoy as much as we did, and be sure to check out Elizabeth’s blog for more yummy recipes!

one year ago: Club Soda Waffles
two years ago: Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette
three years ago: Salsas for Cinco de Mayo

Chocolate Baked Oatmeal [adapted from Food Ramblings]
click to print

Ingredients:

2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk [I used skim]
1 large egg
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup cinnamon chips, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 inch pie pan with cooking spray, or line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, egg, bananas, and maple syrup. Fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then stir in half of the cinnamon chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan and top with remaining cinnamon chips.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. [If baking in a muffin tin, bake for 20-25 minutes]. Serve warm, adding milk or yogurt if desired.

Time: 45 minutes.
Yield: 6 servings.

Please check out all the other fabulous recipes from my SRC pals here: