Oats toasted in Butter, Maple and Coconut

I have been meaning to give this a go for a while now.  Alas, I’ve been enjoying my weekend sleep ins a bit too much of late and usually miss Pete and the boy for their bright and early breakfast, but last Sunday Pete was the one sleeping in, so I gave it a go and it didn’t disappoint.  The boy isn’t very adventurous when it comes to breakfast and enjoys the ritual of his usual ‘quick-oats porridge’, all the ingredients lined up in the same order each day, so this took a little convincing.  Even when he realised how delicious it was he was trying to pretend it wasn’t, with a little smile on his face.

The toasting of the oats adds bags of flavour, of course the butter doesn’t hurt.. There’s a heap of options to vary this – golden syrup or honey instead of maple, different toppings, you name it.  Not the healthiest brekky, but I’ve had worse!  Definitely a good one for a slow Sunday morning.

Ingredients

4 tbsp butter

2 cups oats

⅓ cup coconut flakes

¼ cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

⅛ tsp kosher salt

2 -2½ cups full cream milk

flaked almonds (or any other chopped nuts) and sultanas (or dried cranberries), to serve

Method

In a in a large saucepan brown the butter over medium-high heat until it smells nutty and the milk solids collect on the bottom of the pan and turn golden.

Add the oats and stir constantly until they start to toast and deepen in colour, about 4-6 minutes. Then, add the coconut flakes and cook 1 minute more.

Stir in the maple syrup, vanilla and salt.  Coat the oats in the syrup and cook until the bottom of the pan looks dry, about 2 minutes.

Slowly drizzle in the milk at first, while stirring the oats constantly. Add more milk as the oats absorb the liquid.  After you’ve done this with the first cup or so, stir in the rest.  For thicker oats use 2 cups for creamier, loose oatmeal add all of the milk.

Serve while warm.  Add a little cold milk to the bowl to cool it down and loosen.  Top with nuts and fruit to serve.

Serves 4