Sunday mornings are special at my house. Instead of rushing around and trying to make breakfast for my daughters while finding homework or soccer shoes, I get to lounge around, reading the paper while my husband cooks up a pot of steel-cut oats. I live for Sunday mornings, with my hot cup of coffee and steaming bowl of oatmeal.
Because one batch of oats was never enough to feed the four of us, my husband started making two batches each Sunday. But two batches was just a bit too much for our crowd and I often ended up with about a cup of cooked oats leftover. With this little container of oaty goodness each weekend, I set out on a quest to find the perfect oat cake recipe. Remembering some lovely oatcakes I used to order at a little café when we lived on Nob Hill, I started experimenting.
After a few tries, I came up with a recipe that created great breakfast cakes: supple, yet still firm, with a hint of nuttiness, and just the right amount of fruit to add bits of sweetness to each bite. They are the perfect quick breakfast for a hungry child before school, and an antidote to a crazy Monday morning.
I’ve also added jam, instead of fruit and nuts, to create a Sunday dessert. The outcome is a pan of delicious oat squares filled with gooey strawberries. It’s a crowd pleaser for both kids and adults.
With either recipe, these oatcakes take only about five minutes to throw together. So now, in addition to benefiting from the treat of a lovingly cooked oatmeal breakfast on Sundays, I get the added perk of a nut and fruit oat cake on Monday mornings, or strawberry oat squares Sunday night. It’s a win/win/win situation.