Baked peanut butter oatmeal (our favorite breakfast)

Baked PB oatmeal or just "PB oatmeal" as we fondly call it, serves as our breakfast at least 300 mornings of the year. I've mentioned it about one million times on the blog, since I've been making is for us ever since Summer posted the recipe almost exactly five years ago, but I've never actually shared the recipe and how I make it. Over time, I've adjusted a few things and tweaked it to it's current state. I adore recipes like this that I can make again and again. We eat a lot of eggs for any meal of the day, and so it's nice to have an egg-free breakfast option.  And I really love the idea of a make-ahead breakfast that will reheat easily and fill us up with both protein and carbs.

The sweet routine of making this recipe—one I've long-since memorized—is almost as an act of self-care, knowing that our sleepy morning selves will have a nice meal with which to begin our day. I always use the same bowls and the same whisk and one of two baking dishes (whichever is clean), and so it's both simple and comforting to make this, even on a work night.

Nicholas eats his plain, and I always top mine with jam of some sort, usually raspberry. It makes four servings and lasts for two breakfasts for us, so I strategically plan which night to make it so breakfast plans are always sorted on our busiest days (& a lot of our lazy mornings too). I have doubled it before, and baked it in a 9x13" pan, in case you ever want to try that.

Even after eating it as many times as we have, we still think it's special enough to make on holidays and Valentine's Day, with a little reshaping, just for fun ;).

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal from Summer Harms

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats* (gf, if that's important to you)
• 1 scoop collagen powder
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk (I use 2% dairy or almond milk interchangeably, depending on what we have)
• 3 T honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• heaping 1/4 cup old-fashioned peanut butter**

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
3. Blend all wet ingredients together in a medium bowl, making sure to whisk the mixture thoroughly to evenly distribute the peanut butter.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet.
5. Pour into ungreased pie plate or 9 x 9" baking dish (bonus points for using that pretty baking dish)! Bake for 22 minutes if pan is metal or dark glass, 24 minutes if ceramic or clear glass. Top of oatmeal should be firm, edges just browned.
6. Enjoy after it cools slightly, or put it in the fridge overnight, ready for breakfast the following day.

Notes

*I find that certain old-fashioned oats are firmer than others and thus absorb liquid differently. For example, Trader Joe's gluten-free old-fashioned oats are firmer and benefit from resting with the dry ingredients for 5 minutes or so before pouring into the baking dish, to better incorporate the liquid.

**We have best results with very simple peanut butters that are either just peanuts or peanuts and salt (the kind you have to stir!) Other peanut butters typically have added sugar and oils which can throw off the sweetness and texture in an unfavorable way.