Chocolate Brownie Baked Oats

I woke up this morning with a horrible cold. Bleugh. Liam and the children have been ill for the last couple of days but I thought I'd avoided it, no such luck! Looking out of the window didn't help matters either - horrible grey compared to the lovely sunshine of the last few days! There was only one thing for it - a comforting chocolatey breakfast was needed to turn the day around and make the world seem like a better place!! :)

I decided on baked oats, a hug in a ramekin bowl if ever there was one. I also had fond memories of the lovely gooey chocolate-peanut butter-banana pudding I'd tried a while a go, from Jemma's recipe. Of course, being ill, I didn't actually check any recipes before making my baked oats, but luckily my memory was still working well enough for this to be a success!!

Chocolate Brownie Baked Oats
(inspired by Jemma and Katie)

• 2/3 of a banana (approx 65g)
• 2 medjool dates (approx 40g)
• 15g cocoa powder
• 25g nut butter (I used Cacao Brazilnut Bliss)
• 35g oats
• 55ml milk

Pre-heat oven to 190C.

First, put the banana, dates and cocoa powder in your food processor/blender...

and blitz until it's smooth, but still with a little texture to it (that makes no sense, I know!) I also added the nut butter to this and blitzed again quickly...

Add the blended mix to a bowl with the oats and milk...

and mix. The texture of this should be easily pour-able, but nowhere near as runny as normal porridge pre-cooking...

transfer the mix to an oven-safe dish...

and bake for 20 minutes at 190C. It should come out looking like this...

This was so decadent and delicious. When I next make it, I would probably add a little bit more cocoa powder as it wasn't quite chocolatey enough for me, but it was still amazing! The texture was so gooey and dense thanks to the dates, a lot like a chocolate brownie...

The perfect pick-me-up for mornings when you're not feeling so great! The kiddies liked this too - definitely a breakfast that resulted in them hovering around me hoping for bites!!

If you want a baked oats recipe that isn't quite so rich, earlier in the week I made a different variation...

Tropical Baked Oats

• 40g oats
• 60g coconut cream (about half a small tin, leftover from making a curry the night before)
• 50ml milk
• 20g agave nectar
• 20g dried mango, chopped
• 10g desiccated coconut

All mixed together and baked at 190C for 20 minutes...

topped with a coconut sauce made of 5g coconut flour and about 45ml milk (make the sauce just before eating, as the longer you leave it the more it absorbs the milk and thickens up, so then you need to add more milk again!)...

This was really refreshing. It had a soft flapjack texture, and was super creamy from the addition of the coconut cream. The taste was quite light though, the mango and coconut providing a tropical tang that cut through the richness of the oats!

Yum, between the smoothies I've been having recently and these baked oats, I've got breakfast sorted no matter what the weather/my mood is like!