Cherry Coconut Fudge Oatmeal

I was desperately low on frozen cherries when I set off to make this recipe. This meant I had only one option: break out the jar of maraschino cherries.

Bonus: Both fresh and frozen cherries can have a rather shy flavor in oatmeal, so switching to this syrupy, high-flavor cherry actually helps your oatmeal taste like cherry!

What you’ll need:

• 3/4 cup milk of choice, water, cherry juice, or coconut water*
• 1/4 cup quick cook steel cut oats*
• 1/2 cup cherries, chopped and pitted (fresh, frozen, or maraschino!)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-5 tsp cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• Shredded coconut, for topping
• Chocolate nut butter, for topping, optional (I used PB&Co Dark Chocolate Dreams)

How to make it:

1. Bring milk (I used 1/2 c cashew milk and 1/4 c coconut water) to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium. (If you’d like to add flax or chia seeds, do so now.)
2. Add cherries to the oatmeal. Stir occasionally and cook for about three minutes.
3. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add vanilla extract, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir.
4. When you’re pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Add a splash of your milk of choice, shredded coconut, chocolate nut butter (if using), and any other additional toppings (more cherry, nuts, etc.).

Just an FYI:

For the recipe, I used half frozen cherries and half maraschino cherries. I even snuck in a bit of the syrup from the jar (less than a teaspoon). What a difference it made! Did I cheat? yeah. Was it worth it? Definitely.

Using cherry juice in place of water would also help. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend cherry extract because I don’t personally enjoy that flavor, but it is also an option to consider.