Baked Oatmeal Apples Raisins Pecans ~ No Refined Sweeteners
This seductively sweet apple oatmeal casserole gets its caramel notes from whole dates. Your home will smell amazing as these simple healthy ingredients are baked into the most comforting way imaginable to start your day. No oil or refined sweeteners, just rich satisfying whole food plant-based guilt-free indulgence.
Equipment
- 8 inch cake pan, square or round (20 to 21 cm)
- parchment paper or pre-formed parchment paper cake pan liner (you can grease your pan instead)
- Food Processor
- silicone cake spatula
- small bowl
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled or quick oats (do not use steel cut)
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅔ cup unsweetened plant milk
- ½ cup dates, chopped then measured (remove stems and pits)
- ½ cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
- 1 cup diced apple, preferably a tart variety (peeled or unpeeled, note that 1 cup is usually less than a whole apple)
- ¼ cup raisins (other dried fruits work well too so long as the pieces small)
- ¼ cup chopped pecans (walnuts are also good or another nut of seed)
Instructions
Prepare Pan & Preheat Oven
- Line an 8 inch square or round cake pan with parchment paper or a preformed parchment paper liner.
- Preheat oven to 350 ℉ (175 ℃).
Process Dry Ingredients
- Place oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you achieve the texture of a coarse flour (refer to photo in main text for an idea of what this should look like).
- Remove the processed dry ingredient mix from the food processor, placing the mixture in a small bowl and set aside.
Process Dates Into Wet Ingredients
- Without cleaning the bowl or blades of the food processor, place the chopped dates, plant milk and apple sauce in the food processor and process until ingredients are combined and dates are broken up into specs. You can process this mixture until completely smooth if you prefer, but it's not necessary.
Create Oat Batter
- Add the mix of dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the food processor.
- Pulse until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.
Fold In Chunky Ingredients
- Carefully remove the blade from the processor while leaving batter in the bowl. Use a silicone spatula or your fingers to scrape off batter that sticks to blades.
- Add diced apple, raisins and chopped pecans to the batter in the bowl.
- Use a silicone cake spatula to fold the apples, raisins and pecans evenly into the batter.
Pour and Bake
- Spread batter evenly into the parchment paper lined cake pan and bake at 350 ℉ (175 ℃) for 30 minutes.
Serving and Storing
- This recipe makes up to four servings but can easily be polished off by two hungry individuals, so think two to four servings depending on preferred portion sizes.
- Apple raisin pecan baked oatmeal can be served hot right out of the oven but it's also delicious after it's cooled down or chilled. Note that the texture will be more firm after the casserole has cooled.
- To store, cool to room temperature, cover or place in a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. You can warm up your baked oatmeal before serving it again but it's also good cold.
Garnish Suggestions
- For a cool creamy balance, top each serving with a spoonful or two of plain unsweetened plant based yogurt or homemade simple lemon cashew cream. You can also add a sprinkling of chopped nuts, toasted shredded coconut or finely minced crystalized ginger.
Tried this recipe? Let me know how it was!