Raspberry Nut Fudge Baked Oatmeal

This, my second post, is a baked oatmeal recipe. Inspired by my all time favorite sandwich filling; PB and J. Since I was little I have adored this combination with all my heart, and used to call it a "Mixed sandwich" whenever asked what I wanted for lunch. To this day I still don't know why.

When naming my creation I almost went for "Purple Nut fudge" but concluded it sounded to out there settled for a much more self explanatory approach. Now the 'fudge' element does not come from a chocolate flavor like normal rather from the wonderfully stodgy, dense texture. Unfortunately I'm not sure whether this recipe can be changed to use almond or cashew butter instead of peanut butter as I used PB2, but I guess if you used the same amount of any nut butter, with a thick consistency, than it would work fine, and I would love to know if it does work.

I recommend using frozen raspberries as the release a lot of their juice when you thaw them in the microwave which helps give the oatmeal its beautiful color, you could do this step by thawing them overnight in the fridge. If you wish to use fresh than blitz them with a blender/hand blender or smoosh them well with a fork to get out a good amount of juice.

Raspberry Nut Fudge Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup/ 45g rolled Oats (I use gluten-free)

1/4 tsp baking powder

Pinch of Salt

1/3 Cup/ 80ml milk of choice (I use unsweetened almond)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 serving of PB2 (2 Tbsps or 12g)

Big handful/ 100g frozen raspberries

2 tbsp/ 10g of peanuts roughly chopped (If using a different nut butter because of allergies, etc, I would use the same nut for topping.)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/ Gas Mark 4, and spray a single serve ramekin with non-stick spray or grease with a little butter. 

2.Mix Oats, baking powder and salt in a bowl or mixing jug.

3. Microwave the raspberries in a mug or microwaveable bowl/jug, until soft, squishing them softly to release the juice. Mix half with the milk, straining them slightly with a fork to get the majority of the juice in with the milk and leave half aside.

4. Add the milk mixture to the dry and mix it all up.

5. Prepare PB2 as instructed, you want it to be thick. You can use either more milk or water, which ever you chose.

6. Fold in half the PB2 and half of the nuts into your oats.

7. Pour half the mixture into your ramekin, plop the rest of the raspberries in the middle, and top with the PB2, then the rest of the oats. To be extra fancy I reserved a one or two raspberries and a little dollop of PB2 and swirled them into the top of my baked oatmeal for a marbled effect, but you don't have to. Top with the rest of the nuts and bake for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!