Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

As I mentioned last week, The Assistant really liked the Indian spiced baked oatmeal. The problem was that he wanted to take them to school. Sorry, kiddo, no can do. Nuts are verboten on campus.

Rather than bake up an identical batch that was nut-free, he convinced me to experiment with other flavors. Specifically, he wanted pumpkin.

I searched online for how to replace liquids with pumpkin puree. Turns out that it’s not exactly a liquid replacement, but more of a substitute for eggs and oils. This made the experiment… interesting.

I started by combining the pumpkin with the oat mix, and then adding milk until it more or less resembled the Indian version.

The result was something that I thought was a total failure. I baked until they were solid and browning on the top and bottom, but was disappointed to see that they were still much too liquid in the middle. I cast them aside and started over with a third batch of baked oatmeal (recipe to follow next week).

But after the pumpkin muffins had a chance to settle and cool, they turned out to be surprisingly tasty. Yes, they were moist in the middle, but not liquid as I had feared.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

Print recipe

Serves	12
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	40 minutes
Allergy	Milk
Meal type	Breakfast, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Freezable, Pre-preparable

This baked oatmeal recipe gives all of the pumpkin flavor, but with plenty of protein and fiber to start your day.

Ingredients

2 cups Old fashioned oats
.25 cup Brown sugar
1 tablespoon Pumpkin pie spice
.5 teaspoon Salt
.5 teaspoon Baking powder
1 can Pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)
1 cup Lowfat milk
.25 cup Chia seeds (see note)
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 cup Raisins

Note

When chia seeds hit liquid, they expand. I've found that if I don't pre-soak them, they can be hard to digest. Evidently I'm in the minority here. If your belly isn't bothered by unbloomed chia seeds, feel free to skip the pre-soak and just add them to the dry ingredients.

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin tin. Soak chia seeds in milk.
Step 2
In a large bowl, mix together oats, sugar, salt, spices and baking powder.
Step 3
In a medium bowl, mix together pumpkin, milk/chia mix and vanilla.
Step 4
Combine all ingredients. Scoop evenly into muffin tins.
Step 5
Bake 25 minutes, or until the tops begin to brown.
Step 6
Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving to let the middle set firmly.
Step 7
Serve warm or allow to cool completely and freeze for later use.

Results

“I don’t see what’s wrong with them. What’s wrong with them, Mom?” asked The Assistant after sampling the remnants of my tester muffin 30 minutes later. I explained that they had been too wet and didn’t hold together. “Well, that’s not a problem now,” he said, harvesting one from the muffin tin and taking a huge bite. “Actually, they’re just fine now.”