Black Forest Breakfast Oats

My abiding memory of frozen food when I was little is of frozen Black Forest gateau. I absolutely love Black Forest gateau, but in our house it never seemed to go quite to plan.

You know how you’re meant to take the gateau out of the freezer a couple of hours before you want it? Well we would inevitably forget, meaning after tea that we’d either have to chisel our way through a solid cake, or spend two hours staring greedily at it, hoping that it would defrost before bedtime.

To recapture some of that retro 1980s Black Forest gateau excitement, I thought I’d rustle up a little Black Forest breakfast treat. Everyone is all over the overnight oats, and frozen berries are brilliant for that, but they’re also great in baked oats.

Baked oats are basically like porridge, cooked very slowly in the oven. The addition of eggs makes them set a little bit, so if you don’t get through it all when it’s hot, (good luck with that), then you can actually cut it into slices when it’s cold, and just about manage to eat it with your fingers if you’re careful, flapjack style.

Just like porridge, they are really flexible, so you can add whatever takes your fancy – fruit, nuts, seed, different types of milk, it’s up to you. I went for macadamia nuts in this recipe because for some reason they always feel like the most indulgent of the nuts. They have a creaminess to them that felt befitting of a gateau inspired breakfast.

To make your own Black Forest baked oats you will need:

150g of oats

50g macadamia nuts

200g of frozen dark cherries

2 eggs

250ml of chocolate soy milk

250ml of regular lactofree milk

As you can see, my recipe is dairy free, but that’s just a personal preference as my daughter is lactose intolerant. I went half and half with the milk as I find chocolate soy milk a bit gloopy on its own, but you’re welcome to experiment.

Method

Preheat the oven to around 200 degrees – 180 fan.

Add your dry ingredients – the oats, nuts and cherries (straight from frozen, no need to defrost) – to the sort of dish you’d use to make a normal sized lasagne. Make sure everything is spread out evenly, unless you’re hoping to get all the cherries in your corner, in which case distribute as required.

In a separate jug, whisk together the milks and the eggs. Because I was using chocolate milk, and had the sweetness of the cherries, I decided not to add any extra sugar. If you like your oats very sweet, you could try adding a blob of honey into this wet mixture.

Pour your milk mixture gently over the dry ingredients.

Pop it in the oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes until you can see that all the liquid has been absorbed. If you’re using quick cook oats, the cooking time will probably be a lot shorter.

Scoff your Black Forest baked oats hot from the oven with a big mug of coffee. Alternatively, cover them with ice cream and turn them into a wholesome pudding. Yum!

Jo Middleton is the author of Slummy Single Mummy blog, and has also written about frozen in her post 9 frozen foods that you might not even have realised existed. Head over to her blog for more top tips and insight into her family life!