Tres Leches Baked Oatmeal

This is not a very sweet baked oatmeal but is very dense, very heavy with good "stick to the ribs" qualities that keeps you feeling full! It is packed with oats in various forms (flakes, meal and bran). It’s sweet enough for me, especially with fruit but for those who like it sweeter, it can be topped with your favorite stewed fruit,  maple syrup or additional spoonfuls of dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is a caramelized condensed milk with a delightful flavor. It is not used to excess here so as to be overwhelming. 

Ingredients:

2 cups quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats, uncooked

1 cup Scottish oatmeal

1 cup oat bran

1/2 cup flax meal

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ cup dry, shredded coconut

6 ozs dried Medjool dates, halved

1/2 cup walnut halves

 ½  teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 large eggs

2 cups milk

1 3/4 cups half and half

1 can (14 fl oz) La Lecherea Dulce de Leche

Directions

1.      In a large bowl, combine the oats, cinnamon, oatmeal, oat bran, flax meal, baking powder, and salt. 

2.      Mix the milk, brown sugar, dulce de leche and half and half in a saucepan. Bring to just under simmer, stirring constantly until the dulce de leche is mixed in with the milk. Allow to cool.   

3.      Heavily grease a 8x8x2 inch baking tin or Pyrex dish (If I’m using Pyrex, I put about 1-2 tablespoons of butter in the dish, microwave to melt, then swirl around to coat the bottom and sides just like you would do when making a bread pudding).  

4.      Whisk the eggs, and add the lukewarm milk mixture to this.

5.      Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and mix well. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to distribute the solids evenly. Decorate the top with date halves and walnut halves. Refrigerate for a few hours (6 hours at least) or overnight for the dry ingredients to absorb the wet mixture. Prior to baking, pour an additional 1/4 cup of half and half over the top of the oatmeal and poke holes in the mixture with a skewer to aid absorption of the liquid.

6.      Bake in a water bath for 1 hour and twenty to thirty minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until the center is set, firm to the touch, has a golden color, and a cake tester inserted comes out relatively clean (I use a food thermometer to make sure that the center temperature is 164 degrees Fahrenheit or just above). 

A Seedy Oat Cookie

I like Scottish and Cape Breton style oatcakes but I also like sesame seed cookies. This is a combination of both. They are great for afternoon tea with a jam or jelly of your choosing.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose or whole-wheat flour
• ½ cup oat bran
• 1 cup Scottish oatmeal (looks like oat bran). I use Bob’s Red Mill brand
• ¼ cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon coriander or spice of your choosing
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (I use Colombian Panela Redonda but any brown sugar can be used)
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup cold water

Directions

1. Put the brown sugar in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Stir until dissolved. Allow to cool to lukewarm.
2. In a medium bowl or food processor, mix together all the dry ingredients, (except sugar). Using hands, rub the shortening into the dry mixture until the mixture becomes crumbly.
3. Mix in the sugar water until a rough dough forms. If the dough is moist, sprinkle some more flour and gently roll the dough around until it forms a ball that is somewhat dry to touch
4. Roll out ball of dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. Cut into circles or squares a size of your choosing (or other shapes).
   
   
   
   
5. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 18 to 20 minutes or until light brown around edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool.  For a crisper cookie, return to oven set at 275 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake for another 30 minutes. This allows the cookies to dry out more. Remove from oven. Store in an airtight container.

Fiber Rich Oats and All Bran Breakfast Muffins

The older we get, the more we look around for fiber rich sources of food. The cereals that help the most in this regard are oats and bran. There are many muffin recipes out there that use one or the other. So, I decided to come up with one that used both. I also used dates in this recipe as they, like prunes, are fiber rich....but better tasting! Using yogurt allowed me to cut back on the amount of oil that I used.

These are Jumbo sized muffins for which I used the Jumbo sized foil muffin cups

The recipe gives 12 jumbo sized muffins, and because of their size, one muffin for breakfast is more than enough....even though you may well be tempted to eat more than one. I have used a minimal amount of sugar, relying instead on the sweetness of the dates, and whatever sugar is in the All Bran cereal.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup Brown sugar or Panela Redonda

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 cup Kellogg's® All-Bran® Original cereal

1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats

¼ cup dried, unsweetened coconut

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 cup Greek style yogurt, plain

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon orange extract

1/3 cup (about 6 large Medjool dates), pitted and finely chopped

1/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

1.In large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, oats, nuts, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2. Finely chop the dates and walnuts. The dates are added to the half and half mixture (as below), the nuts are added to the dry ingredients above.

3. Zest the lemon and place in a saucer. Add the juice to this along with the orange extract. Set aside.

4. In saucepan combine half and half, honey, dried coconut, chopped dates, and the brown sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Gently warm but do not boil (if you are using Panela Redonda, it doesn’t matter if a few small lumps remain. They form pockets of caramel sweetness when baked). Allow to cool to lukewarm then add this to the all-bran cereal.  Let stand about 2 minutes.

5. Lightly whisk the egg, oil and yogurt till thick and creamy. Add all the half and half mixture to this and mix. Add the lemon juice and zest to the wet ingredients, stir then add all to the dry and quickly mix. Be careful not to over mix, stirring until just combined. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes until browned on top and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack.