I have many seasonal recipes on “The List” that go unpublished every year. These ideas stay permanently unchecked on The List, waiting for its designated “food season” to make its big debut, but never seeing the light.*
*Because I’m lazy.
Such was the case with last year’s Peppermint Brownie Baked Oatmeal. I always wanted to make this during the holiday season, but it took multiple years to actually get it done.*
*Because I’m lazy.
Now, there’s this doll: pumpkin baked oatmeal with delightful clumps of cream cheese. I used Tofutti, but any cream cheese, vegan or not, will work just fine. I’ve wanted to publish this for the past several “pumpkin seasons,” but I’m finally getting to it now.*
*Because I’m lazy.
What finally motivated me? Christine (yes, the same Christine who motivated me to make the Spiced Persimmon Oatmeal) asked if I could make more variations on my Berry Cream Cheese Baked Oatmeal.
Combined with the guilt of ignoring this recipe idea for years, her request finally launched me to purchase a tub of Tofutti. Once I had that in my fridge, there was no turning back. I had to use it quickly because, in my experience, even vegan cream cheese has a short lifespan.
This recipe is literally just my Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal + cream cheese. There are two ways to make this (even though I only wrote out one way in the recipe below). First, you can do what I did and make Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal and then drop in dollops of cream cheese. Alternatively, you can follow the approach I used in the Berry Cream Cheese Baked Oatmeal, in which I whisked the cream cheese into the wet ingredients, distributing the cream cheese throughout.
I’m used to the taste of vegan cream cheese (probably thanks to my bagel challenge), but if you’re not, you might like the second method better so you don’t run into clumps of an ingredient you’re not completely fond of. I understand this because I used to feel the same way, as you can see in my ranting of the Berry Cream Cheese Baked Oatmeal. Much has changed in three years, and I now find Tofutti and other vegan cream cheeses to taste totally normal and . . . well, cream cheesey. Maybe someday I will like Daiya cheddar, too.*
*Probably not.
And don’t forget to participate in the contest to become December’s Oatmeal Enthusiast!
All you have to do is leave comments. See details here. It ends this Saturday!
Random Recommendations:
- [people] Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook! Yep, shameless self-promotion.
- [eats] Oldie, but goodie. Here’s BuzzFeed’s compilation of 32 Vegan Recipes for Thanksgiving (because it’s that time of year, y’all).
- [reads] Civil Eats posted a great article about an unlikely activist (a pastry chef!) who argues that we need to be eating fewer sweets.
What you'll need:
- 1/2 cup regular rolled oats
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup milk of choice
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1-2 tbsp cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
How to make it:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a single-serving ramekin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, mix oats, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until combined.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, milk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup.
- Add dry ingredients to mix ingredients and stir until combined.
- If you'd like to add any extra ingredients (chocolate chips, additional spices or sweetener, dried fruit), do so now.
- Drop cream cheese in small clumps into batter, stirring slightly to distribute the clumps throughout the oatmeal.
- Pour into the prepared ramekin. I added a few more clumps of cream cheese on the top. Then, bake for 20-25 minutes.
Just an FYI:
See paragraphs above for alternative methods to prepare this oatmeal. Adapted from Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal.
*This post is in no way sponsored by Tofutti and I did not receive any compensation for this post. It just happens to be the brand I used here.*
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