Baked Blueberry and Walnut Oatmeal

This recipe was adapted from the lovely Heidi Swanson in her cookbook Super Natural Everyday. It makes a nice amount that you can eat off of throughout the week, or is perfect for a brunch gathering (once we are allowed to do that again). Since my in-laws grow blueberries, I always have some fresh in the summer, and frozen all other seasons in the freezer. So right now, while we are all trying to cook with what we have, this is a great recipe to lean on whatever fruit you can stored in the freezer.

Baked Blueberry and Walnut Oatmeal
serves 6

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts (almonds or pecans would work too)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
2 cups milk
1/3 cup maple syrup, plus more for serving* see note
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, 1/2” thick
2 cups blueberries (frozen is ok, no need to thaw, as well this is delicious with strawberries)

STEPS:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter your 8” baking dish and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, half the walnuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, maple syrup, egg, half of the melted butter, and vanilla.

Arrange the sliced bananas in the bottom of the baking dish. Add one cup of your blueberries over top. Cover the blueberries with the oat mixture, then drizzle the milk mixture over top. Give the baking dish a quick thwack so the milk can make its way to the bottom. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries and the walnuts.

Bake for about 40 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and drizzle with the remaining melted butter and a little drizzle of maple syrup.

*Note: I like this amount of maple syrup mixed into the milk mixture, and then for serving my family or guests can add an additional drizzle if they want it sweeter. My kids like to add some milk into their bowl too. However I have made this oatmeal with no maple syrup being baked in, and then just added individual drizzles once its baked, and that fully works too. On the other hand, if you feel like you needed to add a lot of maple syrup at the end to your liking next time add in a bit more maple syrup before it bakes, or you can even add in a 1/3 cup of brown sugar to the oat mixture.