Ever since the magical experience of the pumpkin pie baked oatmeal, I’ve been experimenting with other flavors and varieties of baked oatmeal. I made this one last week and while it wasn’t quite as mind blowing as the pumpkin, I happily gobbled it up every morning and was a little sad when I at the last of it today.
This batch lacked the thick body that the pumpkin puree provided, but it did create an interesting gel-like molasses custard. If you’ve ever had impossible pie, it’s a little something like that. The molasses, spices, and eggs kind of gel up into a sweet custard on the bottom. I liked it, but if you have texture issues with food, you may not… Just a fair warning! Texture aside, the flavor was awesome.
The other thing that I liked about this baked oatmeal is that when I poured milk over top, the molasses seeped out and flavored the milk in that yummy way that coco puffs and fruity pebbles do! Oh, childhood memories!
Gingerbread Baked Oatmeal
Gingerbread Baked Oatmeal
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1/3 cup dark molasses, not blackstrap, not light ($0.73)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.08)
- 2 large eggs ($0.32)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.05)
- 1 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves ($0.02)
- 2 cups milk ($0.75)
- 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats ($0.43)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together the molasses, brown sugar, eggs, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Once everything is well combined, whisk in the milk.
- Stir in the oats. Coat an 8×8 (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.
- Serve hot or refrigerate and eat cold.
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Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Start by whisking together everything except the milk and oats.
Next, whisk in the milk.
And finally, stir in the oats. A large spoon will probably work better than a whisk here…
Pour it all into a baking dish coated with non-stick spray. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated, 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.
Here is a close up of the texture. The top is a little dryer and the bottom is more custardy. When I scoop it into my bowl I kind of mix it up, but I enjoyed the varied textures.
And my favorite part – gingerbread flavored milk! Yum!!
This makes a great breakfast. I replace 1/2 cup of milk with 15oz of pumpkin, add a splash of pure vanilla and up the cinnamon to 2 t. I bake it in 18 muffins pans and freeze them. When I am ready to have breakfast I add a half serving of vanilla Greek yogurt to two cups. So good!
I make one of Beth’s baked oatmeals every week, but hadn’t tried this one. Based on the ratios from her other recipes, I used unsweetened applesauce to get to 1.5 cups of liquid (with the molasses) for a more even texture/custard. That worked great, and I will probably also increase to 3 cups oats next time (as in the oatmeal raisin baked oatmeal recipe). The flavor is outstanding!
I happen to have blackstrap molasses in my pantry already. Is there a reason that type won’t work well?
The flavor of blackstrap is a LOT stronger, so it will likely overwhelm the cookie.
Molasses oats. Doesn’t taste like gingerbread at all.
The ingredients list includes baking powder but the instructions step 1 says baking soda…
Zeeb, thank you so much for pointing out that mistake. It is baking powder. We have fixed it in the recipe step by step. XOXO -Monti
Adding 1/3 C full fat cocoa without increasing the sugar makes this taste decadent. Stirring in some Lily’s stevia sweetened dark chocolate chips turns breakfast into a treat without increasing the sugar. The toddler and his baby sister both clamor for “cake,” although the older one prefers his with some plant based whipped topping.
These baked oatmeal recipes are great to make with kids because it can’t be over stirred and the batter can be tasted until the eggs are added.
My kids loved this. I did increase the spices and added ground nutmeg. I doubled it and put it in a 13×9. Thanks!
Oh this was such a winner! And while I adore molasses, I switched out sorghum because it’s my all time fave & had it on hand. I will definitely be making this in probably more varieties than you’ve come up with (savory too maybe) because it’s obviously a great method. Thanks again, Beth!
One of my favorites? I did alter the recipe as I love pumpkin gingerbread. I add a 15 oz. can of pumpkin and decrease the milk to 1-1/2 cups. Also increased the ginger to 2 tsp. Had some honey crisp apples that were getting soft, so I diced them sand sautéed them in butter and cinnamon and added them on top. No leftovers!
I’m a bit confused. Do you use baking soda or baking powder? In the recipe it says baking soda, but then you commented back to someone saying you used baking powder. Im making this soon and just want to know for sure which one it is. Thanks!
Sorry about that. Looks like I missed the typo with the previous comment. It is baking powder.
Is this really meant to be baking soda and not baking powder?
No, I used baking powder.
Smells better than it tastes…its not that it tastes bad, it just didn’t have a strong flavor. We had to substitute the cloves with allspice but I don’t think it made much of a difference. Its very lightly sweet ( which I know is what this recipe was going for) however, wasn’t a hit with the kiddos. I did enjoy it though, its a good breakfast food, not too heavy. 4 stars from me, but 3 stars from both the kids.