Baked Oatmeal with Pumpkin & Pears ♥ Recipe

Today's healthy breakfast recipe: Oatmeal baked with pumpkin plus fall fruit, pumpkin-pie spices and nuts. There's just enough pumpkin for color and moisture without making the oatmeal dense and heavy.

Come October 1, American-based food blogs take on a fevered orange tinge – pumpkin orange, that is – as we go cra-zee for pumpkin recipes. I have my own collection, My Favorite Pumpkin Recipes but am always happy to add another! "Never look a gift pumpkin in the face," I say, especially when it's a healthy pumpkin recipe. :-)

The last few weeks, I've been made one pan of Easy Baked Oatmeal after another, twice with blueberries and bananas, twice with apples and pears (and the all-important bananas), then twice more with pumpkin and pears (and more bananas). It took some tweaking to get the right amount of pumpkin and pumpkin-pie-type spices and the baking time right, but the last batch was just excellent.

What makes Baked Oatmeal so good is, first, the oats, there's a lot of them and the texture is totally about the oats. But they're barely sweet - I made it with sorghum (my favorite), maple syrup, honey and even one of those sugar-free syrups people put in their coffee, all were excellent. Still, the fruit adds such a critical dimension of both sweetness and texture, the bananas on the bottom, the soft fruit throughout the oats. The nuts, too, some in the oats, some on top, what great texture contrast. So yes I'm really high on this recipe, it's the first time, I think, that I've published two variations of the same recipe on both Kitchen Parade and A Veggie Venture.

But then again, you might just chalk it up to, you know, Pumpkin Fever.

RECIPE for BAKED OATMEAL with PUMPKIN & PEARS

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 90 minutes
Serves 9

OAT MIXTURE
1 large egg
1-1/2 cups (185g) buttermilk or skim milk
1 cup (235g) pumpkin purée
1/3 cup (105g) sweetener (see NOTES)
2 tablespoons (30g) melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups (190g) old-fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup (30g) chopped toasted walnuts (don’t skip)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/16 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 ripe pears, skins on, chopped in small pieces (save aside about half to slice for the top)

TO COMBINE
2 ripe bananas, cut in small chunks
Oatmeal Mixture
Sliced pears
1/4 cup (30g) chopped toasted walnuts
2 tablespoons raw sugar

TO SERVE
Warm maple syrup or half & half, optional

Preheat oven to 375F. Butter an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish. (If you’re doubling the recipe, double the ingredients and use a 9x13 pan.)

OAT MIXTURE In a large bowl, whisk the egg, then whisk in the buttermilk, sweetener, butter and vanilla. Stir in the oatmeal, 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, baking powder, spices and salt. Stir in chopped pear.

TO COMBINE Arrange the banana pieces in the bottom of baking dish, cover with Oat Mixture. Arrange pear slices decoratively on top, sprinkle with ¼ cup toasted walnuts and raw sugar.

BAKE Bake uncovered for 50 – 60 minutes until top is golden and oat mixture has set. Let cool for 5 – 10 minutes.

TO SERVE Cut into nine pieces, serve warm plain or drizzled with a little warm maple syrup or my favorite for temperature contrast, half & half.

LEFTOVERS Cover and refrigerate, this may look like "cake" but it's not. Rewarms beautifully in the microwave in 30 seconds.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
SWEETENER - I'm partial to sorghum but have also used maple syrup, honey and even a sugar-free almond syrup. All work!

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from my recipe for Easy Baked Oatmeal with Apples & Walnuts or Easy Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries & Bananas, this Baked Oatmeal with Pumpkin is just one more adaptation! It takes more spices and takes longer to bake, otherwise, there are minimal adjustments to the recipe.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving, assumes sugar-free syrup/maple syrup: 244/275 Calories; 9g Tot Fat; 3g Sat Fat; 33mg Cholesterol; 313/311mg Sodium; 35/43g Carb; 5g Fiber; 14/21g Sugar; 7g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS: WW Old Points 5/5.5 & WW PointsPlus 6/7

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MORE FAVORITE PUMPKIN RECIPES
~ My Favorite Pumpkin Recipes ~

~ How to Roast a Whole Pumpkin ~
~ Pumpkin Hummus with Honey ~
~ Pumpkin Corn Bread ~
~ Stuffed Pumpkin with Apple & Cranberry ~
~ more pumpkin recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Autumn Pumpkin Bread ~
~ Perfect Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins ~
~ Fall Stew Baked in a Whole Pumpkin ~
~ more pumpkin recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

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