Bananas Foster Oatmeal

Maybe this is how blogging is supposed to be. I took this picture on the spur of  the moment, after I took one bite, looked down and thought, " That's beautiful." So I decided to post it and share my creation with you. It started out as banana nut oatmeal, which I had made before and my husband loved. As it's his birthday today, I wanted to create something extra special for him and bananas foster oatmeal was born.

Up until now, I've posted recipes that I thought would be delicious, or would take a good picture. I would spend days, and even weeks and months trying to find the perfect recipe. And nothing would get posted.  I have a lot less time these days to cook since I've started working two jobs, so that's affected my blogging/cooking/baking routine, too. But even more than that, I would try to plan, to perfect the dish and the plating and photography in my head so I would have something "blog worthy". But I'm going to try to be more organic in my posts, sharing what I make because it's something I think everyone needs to have in their lives. This is one of those things. It's a decadent bowl-- definitely something for special occasions and it's quite possibly the most elegant way to dress up your breakfast ( or brunch, if you're like us and wait until 12:30 to think about eating on a Sunday). I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Bananas Foster Oatmeal

serves 2-4

3 c. water

1/2 t. salt

1 c. stone-ground oats (we love Bob's Red Mill brand)

1/2 c. walnuts, toasted

3 T. butter, divided

2 ripe bananas, sliced at an angle

scant 1/4 c. dark brown sugar

pinch of salt

1/4 t. cinnamon

grated nutmeg

milk/ cream, to taste

Bring water and salt to a boil in medium saucepan. Add oats slowly, whisking to prevent clumps. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt 2 T. butter in pan. When foam subsides, add bananas and cook 3-4 minutes and turn over. They should be softened and warmed through, but not mushy. Add brown sugar, pinch of salt, cinnamon and a few gratings of nutmeg; stir gently to melt the sugar, being careful not to mash bananas. Cook 3-4 minutes longer, stirring gently, then add 1 T. butter and continue to stir until melted and smooth. When oatmeal is cooked, taste for seasoning. I like to add a little more salt and a bit of sugar to bring out the flavor of the oats. Stir in milk or cream to taste ( a creamy oatmeal will balance the sweetness of the topping). If you like, stir in about half of the caramel from the bananas, leaving just enough to coat them and some extra for drizzling. Portion oatmeal into bowls and top with bananas, caramel sauce and toasted walnuts.

Baked Sunday Mornings: New York-Style Crumb Cake

What do you get when you streamline a coffee cake down to its bare essentials? This cake. It's the contrast between the rugged, sugar crunch of the topping with the tender softness of the sour cream cake that makes it so special. No nuts to take away from the brown sugar sweetness, no chocolate, no swirl. I love a good minimalist, if you can call the glorious excess of this crumb minimal, that is.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Carrot-Coconut Scones with Citrus Glaze

 

It's not too soon for another scone post, is it? I hope not. I never get tired of scones. I could be classified as an addict. And I'm totally addicted to these coconut scones. Adding coconut to a scone was a first for me. These really are a bit like a glorified cookie, but made with a biscuit formula. But if it looks like a scone and tastes like a scone, that's enough for me. I love the cragginess that holds the citrus glaze like tiers of lace. It doesn't get much more beautiful than this. Or more perfect for the arrival of spring!

Meyer Lemon and Dried Blueberry Scones

Summer seems so far away. It is, actually, a long way off, but I have good news. You can have a delicious blueberry scone months before June, when they are actually in season. The secret is dried blueberries. These are tiny, flavorful wild blueberries and they're here to jog your memory. Remember sunshine? Remember twilight fireflies? It's just around the corner. Thank goodness for dried fruit to bridge the gap. They may not be juicy, but they are jammy, concentrated, bits of summer flavor.

Cranberry-Cornmeal Quick Bread

  

It's been a while since I've shared one of my recipes with you. The baking/cooking groups are fun, but they've been monopolizing the real estate here, just a little bit. So here is a recipe of my own choosing, a recipe that I love dearly. I've made this bread for our Thanksgiving breakfast for the last two years and every time I taste it, I fall in love again. Meet a loaf of cornbread kissed with maple syrup and studded with toasted pecans and dried cranberries. I think it would look great on your kitchen table on Christmas morning.It would also be perfect for any breakfast from  September to February, as far as I'm concerned.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: Nutella Scones

Well, I've joined another baking group. I had to, though. It's for the Baked cookbooks and I'll get to cook through the entire book (both of them) while getting feedback from other bakers making the same things. It's a great set-up and I'm loving my French Friday group. This one will be amazing too. I mean, just look at the scones. This also just happened to be the recipe I wanted to make from this book first. It was meant to be. And oddly enough, it is also my very first chocolate scone creation. Ever. Sad, but true. I'm so glad Matt and Renato were kind enough to fix that for me. I can't imagine needing any other chocolate scone recipe after trying this one.

Summer Fest: Almond-Plum Buckle

 

Meet the perfect transition from summer to fall. The plum. Would you like to hear a secret? I've never baked with a plum before. That's a crime; baking affects fruit the same way roasting does. It intensifies the flavors. It magnifies them. It concentrates them. This lovely cake, with its moist, crumbling texture has pockets of melting, fragrant, jammy plums and I'm officially in love.  Perhaps the perfect late-summer breakfast, I'm baking this buckle every week until plums disappear from the markets, because, my friends, this is perfection.