Salted Tahini Fudge Oatmeal

I’ve been flying through jars of tahini. I think its best use is in salad, but I also love it on oatmeal from time to time.

What you’ll need:

For the oatmeal:

• 3/4 cup milk of choice, or water*
• 1/4 cup quick cook steel-cut oats*
• 1/3 cup mashed sweet potato
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (or at least 1 and a half)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-3 tsp maple syrup (adjust to your preferences)
• pinch of salt

• 1-2 tbsp tahini
• pinch of coarse salt
• handful of cacao nibs or chocolate chips

How to make it:

1. Bring milk (I use 1/2 c almond milk and 1/4 c water) to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium. (If you’d like to add a teaspoon of flax or chia seeds, do so now.)
2. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, stir mashed sweet potato into the oatmeal.
3. Add cocoa powder, vanilla extract, maple syrup and salt. Stir. If the oatmeal is getting too dry, add another splash of milk or water and stir to make it creamy again.
4. When you’re pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Drizzle with tahini. Sprinkle with coarse salt and cacao nibs/chocolate chips.

Just an FYI:

I was craving a salted recipe. Knowing that salt on fudgy banana is not a great idea, I opted for a sweet potato fudge base. I promise: if you cook your sweet potato well enough, and mash it thoroughly, it will incorporate beautifully into the oatmeal. I find that roasting the sweet potato (whole) usually makes it easier to mash than boiling cubes of sweet potato–but this might not be accurate science!

Because this recipe ends up being salted, I found that I preferred a less sweet version of the oatmeal. When I made the oatmeal sweet, it made the salted tahini topping too out of place. However, if I sweetened the oatmeal a little less, the salted tahini topping fit right in and enhanced the flavor of the base. I’m not saying this is a savory oatmeal–it’s distinctly sweet. But sweet-and-salty combos are best when the sweet part isn’t too sweet.

Is any of this making sense?

Also, funny story. You know how tahini is so runny and thin? I wanted it to be thicker, so I tried mixing it with prepared PB2. 0/10, do not recommend.