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.
Is it possible for me to eliminate the salt for this recipe?
Yes you certainly can.
I’ve made almost every single baked oatmeal recipe lol. I love them all. Thank you!
Thank you for this recipe, it is so delicious! I just wanted to share something that may be helpful to others. I have an egg allergy, so I substituted the eggs for 6 tablespoons of chickpea liquid and it worked great. I make this after I make your (also delicious) Spinach Chickpea Rice Pilaf, so I just save what I’ve drained from the can of chickpeas, no waste. :)
These oats were a HUGE hit when I served them to the family over the Thanksgiving weekend! What a fun way to incorporate holiday flavors, and I so appreciate a recipe that can easily be made for a group with varied dietary preferences — with an almond milk substitution, this matched all of my needs! Gluten-free, dairy-free and vegetarian!
I really want to make this but can’t find dark molasses anywhere! Would light still work for this recipe? Thank you!
Technically it will “work” but the flavor will be much weaker.
I make one of your baked oatmeal recipes every week, they are so delicious! I made this Gingerbread Baked Oatmeal for the first time this morning. I added about 3/4 cup of pumpkin purée to this recipe and it was the best of both worlds–thank you for such delicious, and easy recipes.
Oh.My. Gosh. The Gingerbread Baked Oatmeal is so freaking delicious!! My apartment had this heavenly aroma of gingerbread, and I was looking forward to enjoying the oatmeal for breakfast, along with some sausage links. I have plenty of leftovers for the next several days. Thank you, Beth!! :-)
I have made this recipe several times . Its amazingly good! Thanks for sharing!
Has anyone tried any of these amazing oatmeal recipes in a slow cooker? It’s been about a billion degrees and I’m desperately trying to avoid using the oven.
I made the gingerbread one with Scottish oatmeal and it was SUPER chewy. Really great the next day with milk!
i just polished off 2 pans of the pumpkin pie baked oatmeal. they lasted me about a week each. just bough molasses and will be making this one today!
I made this. Soo delicious. For reference, the whole thing is 1600 calories – so separate into portions as you’d like.
I’m a student and gluten intolerant so I bake off one of these each week and freeze in portions. Then I just pop them in the microwave for a minute or so each morning. The texture isn’t quite the same as when it’s fresh out of the oven, but it saves me so much time and allows me to have a really filling breakfast before I hit the gym.
I would absolutely not recommend using fresh ginger — just pile in more of the powder. Dried ginger imparts that gingerbready taste we all know and love. Fresh ginger is great but completely different — your oatmeal will end up tasting more like peppery ginger ale.
Just ate this, straight from the oven. I’m in New Zealand, and molasses isn’t something we typically have in the pantry here, so I used golden syrup instead. It was probably less sweet as a result, but I really enjoyed it with a little milk and a dollop of apple sauce. I’ll be making this again but next time, more ginger and I’m wondering if I can work in some protein powder somehow…. Delicious, thank you!
Hi Beth! Good to know! So much to learn in the world of food. Thanks for the link! I will definitely check it out!
GDUMAS – Black strap is much stronger than dark molasses and may be too overwhelming for the recipe. Although, if you’re a fan of black strap, you can always try it out! :) Here is an article with a breakdown of the different types of molasses: http://foodreference.about.com/od/Sweeteners/a/What-Is-Molasses.htm
Is there a reason why you would not recommend using blackstrap molasses in this recipe? I recently made the gingersnaps from your blog using blackstrap and have some left over. Should I have used regular dark molasses for those cookies too? I didn’t know there was a difference. Baking is new to me…. What is the difference?
Here is the nutritional breakdown for anyone who is interested. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calories.asp?recipe=1901300
Fresh ginger will definitely give it more of a kick! :D
I made this today and it was great! I was thinking for my taste I’d like it to have a little more ginger “kick.” Can that be achieved by adding more ground ginger, or would freshly grated ginger be a better option?
I just whisked some of this up with my 1.5 year old for breakfast in the morning! I’ve got it setting in the fridge, ready to throw in the oven when I open my eyes at the crack of dawn. So excited to try this!
This looks delicious! I would love if you shared this in my holiday recipes Blog Hop. Enter it for a chance at a Wilton Pre-Baked Gingerbread Tree Kit! http://bit.ly/vbyp71
This looks amazing! I have recently ‘discovered’ baked oatmeal and I am OBSESSED. I have been experimenting like crazy. I started with raspberry/almond then banana/brown sugar then an apple/walnut. THIS is definately the next one on my list. Oh, and I use either almond or coconut milk in each attempt – it works perfectly. Thanks for sharing! =)
I’ve also used almond milk in most of these recipes that I’ve tried and been very successful, just FYI.
Actually, it might be even better if you add the oats the night before because then they’ll soak up some of the moisture and the texture will be more consistent throughout! I’m going to try it!
Nicky, i bet you could do everything the night before except add the oats, then in the morning just stir in the oats and pour into your baking dish.
Could you prep it the night before and bake in the morning?
You can substitute soy milk for almost any recipe that uses regular milk. My daughter and I are lactose intolerant and I use soy milk for me (she is OK with Lactaid milk – I am not) in almost everything!
I haven’t tried it but I’m pretty sure others have done it with the other baked oatmeal recipes and had success.
Can you substitute soy milk for regular milk? I can’t have any dairy right now.