This is my final featured recipe from the Brownie Baked Oatmeal contest! It’s been a pleasure seeing what you all came up with, featuring your recipes, and seeing the reader responses! I love these contests. Expect more to come!
This one comes to us from Giselle. Enjoy!!
This oatmeal was inspired by my mother. When I was younger, she would cook my oatmeal with a cinnamon stick, rarely with powder. And if she did, I would always taste the difference- a sharper, bolder flavor, which I never liked. I begged her to never use this powder in my oatmeal.
Another food she often cooked was plantain. Whether sautéed, boiled, or grilled (something you must try at some point in your life) it was always a big hit in our family. Since plantainsand bananas are so similar, I often wondered if I could replace them in recipes. When I was trying to edit a banana muffin post on my (tiny) blog (www.the-cinnamonster.
Beyond amazing.
You can use whatever plantain looks good, but it needs to be almost completely black, not spotty like a banana. You can find plantains at an ethnic food store, or sometimes local groceries carry them (Kroger, Albertsons, etc.) Pick the yellow ones, not the green, as they will never ripen. Store them as you would store bananas.
What you'll need:
- ½ cup rolled oats*
- ¼ cup filtered water*
- ½ tbsp lemon juice or vinegar*
- ½ large, very ripe plantain
- 1 level tbsp cocoa powder
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup hot milk
- 1 inch long piece of cinnamon
- optional topping: a few plantain slices, a big pinch of each coconut sugar and cinnamon powder, and a bit of good quality butter or ghee
How to make it:
- The night before, combine first three ingredients* and leave them overnight at room temperature (not the fridge!). Also, combine milk and cinnamon stick. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning, rinse oatmeal thoroughly, and pat dry. Remove the cinnamon stick from the milk and discard it. Add all ingredients to a food processor, except topping, and mix till combined.
- Pour into a greased ramekin or mini loaf tin and bake 20-25 minutes. If using topping, remove, add plantain slices, brush with butter, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on slices equally, and broil for a minute.
- Enjoy!
Just an FYI:
* According to Giselle, "Soaking the oatmeal (or any other whole grain) in acidic liquid is supposed to break down the phytic acid to make them more nutritious and digestible. Rinsing them removes most of the lemon flavor. However, this step can be skipped if you wish."
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