Could baked oatmeal cups be the breakfast of champions? Chai spices and golden figs team up with toasted nuts for a healthy comfort food breakfast.
Oats during the year make quite a terrific breakfast. In the summer, try them in overnight oats. If you’re more into bowls of steel-cut oats, we’ve got all the tips to make perfect oats. And, if you’re looking for a festive breakfast slice and serve from a pan of baked oats… then, hang onto this recipe for individual baked oatmeal cups for one or more, ready to-go.
Fall for Figs at Breakfast
Orchard Choice and Sun-Maid California Golden Dried Figs are a breakfast favorite—by adding a few figs into a bowl of oats, yogurt or baked into granola, they add their sparkly crunch and familiar fig flavor. Not only that, they add fiber, potassium, calcium, and more, making them a nutritious mix-in for morning meals.
Baked oatmeal is a classic breakfast. Usually baked in an 8×8 square pan, it’s a cut and serve kind of dish. But we wanted to take that idea and see if we could make it portable. For the baked oatmeal cups, we added more egg to create structure, while the butter and brown sugar bring a luscious quality to the cups. We use rolled oats, also known as old-fashioned oats. We wouldn’t suggest trying this with cooked steel-cut oats as they would be too sticky or instant oats which wouldn’t hold up as well either.
Flavors of Fall
Masala chai, or the spiced tea that originates in India, inspired the flavor combination for these baked oatmeal cups. For this masala mix, we use cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and a little bit of black pepper. The spices pair marvelously with the nutty delicate sweetness of the Golden Figs and toasty nuts.
We suggest using toasted walnuts or pecans, but you could really use the nuts available to you.
Make these baked oatmeal cups for one or work them into your meal prep for the week ahead. Store the baked oatmeal cups in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Re-warm the cups or enjoy them at room temperature or chilled—there’s no wrong way to eat them! You could also crumble a warm baked oatmeal cup into a bowl of yogurt for a twist on oats and yogurt.
Chai Spiced Fig Baked Oatmeal Cups
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
- 1 cup Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Golden Dried Figs
- 2 cups rolled oats (also called old-fashioned)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Dash black pepper
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups milk (whole, almondmilk, or soymilk)
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Mist a muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Coarsely chop the toasted walnuts. Remove the stems from the figs and then cut each fig in half lengthwise.
- In a large bowl, stir oats with baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, salt, and pepper with the walnuts. In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar into the eggs. Then, whisk in the melted butter, vanilla extract, and milk.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin wells 3/4 of the way full. Place one half of a sliced fig, seed-side up in the middle, on top of the oats.
- Bake on the center rack for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edges of the oatmeal cups. Cool them in the pan for 7 minutes before eating.
Notes
Recipe and photos by Annelies Zijderveld
NOTE:- You can always leave the batter in the muffin tin to soak for up to 30 minutes before baking. The texture was even lighter.
- Timing-wise, you’re looking for the tops to be golden and the middles to not jiggle, so if you want to check them at 35 minutes and pull them then, provided the color and texture are in line.