A few days ago, I got it into my mind that I wanted to try making an oatmeal souffle for breakfast. I know this is not an original idea, but for the life of me I couldn’t think where I had heard of this concept before. Luckily we have the Internet, that bastion of all knowledge. I figured that the web would be full of recipes and that I’d be able to get the general gist of how to make one and then come up with my own recipe, although I had already pretty much figured out how I would do it.

***RANT ALERT****

Okay, I’m going to rant a little about something that has been bothering me for awhile, but with my most recent search for recipes for oatmeal souffle, I have decided that I have to say something. It drives me freaking nuts when I come across the same recipe, on site after site, that is exactly the same. Sure the wording of the directions might be slightly different, but in all honesty they are completely the same. It’s obvious that people are just “stealing” recipes and just changing the directions enough so as to not get busted for copyright infringement. Now, being the cynical guy that I am, I am not surprised by all these websites that have page after page of stolen recipes, but what really surprised and bothered me was the number of blogs that have done the same thing, and don’t give any attribution. Come on people! At least have the decency to twist a recipe a little bit to make it your own. Some blogs didn’t even bother to change the order of the ingredients and/or only changed or omitted a couple of words from the directions. Here’s an idea; if you are so lacking in cooking skills that you can’t alter a recipe to make it yours then you have no place in the blogosphere and need to give it up. Or at the very least man up, and let your readers know that the recipe you are offering is not yours. Give credit to those that take the time to create those recipes.

***RANT OVER***

The recipes I did find told me I was on the right track and helped me to refine a couple of the ratios I wasn’t so sure about and last night I had my recipe done. I told my wife that I would be cooking breakfast, which she wasn’t thrilled with. Normally she’d love for me to make breakfast but today is my birthday and she wanted to cook me a special breakfast with the help of your 4 year old daughter. As I really wanted to try out this recipe I convinced her that tomorrow (Sunday) would be a better morning for cooking me breakfast as I am planning on going out tonight, for my birthday, and probably wouldn’t be in any shape to cook breakfast tomorrow.

Overall, I am very pleased with how this turned out. It didn’t rise like a normal souffle does with all the heavy ingredients I didn’t expect it to, but it did come out much lighter than standard oatmeal or most of the baked oatmeal recipes I have had. It had a different texture, but not it a bad way. In fact I really, really enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t as heavy as regular oatmeal is. If I had any issues with this recipe, it might be just a little too sweet. If you like your oatmeal really sweet then keep the recipe as is, but if you prefer it not so sweet, or need to watch your sugar intake I imagine you could cut the maple syrup in half, from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup and still end up with a very good dish. Also, while I often like my oatmeal heavily spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc. I keep the spices to a minimum so that they wouldn’t mask the maple flavor, which I would would be subtle.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. It is definitely the prefect breakfast for a cold winter’s day, when oatmeal sounds good, but you’re looking for something just a little different.

Triple Fruit Oatmeal Souffle
serves 4

1 cup milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup oats, not instant
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried apricots, diced
1/3 cup chopped pecans
3 eggs, separated

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter and sugar a 1 1/2 quart ramekin or baking dish. In a small sauce pot combine the milk, butter and salt. Bring to a boil and add the oats. Cook the oats for the amount of time specified on the container then remove from heat.

As the oatmeal mixture is cooling slightly whip the egg whites to stiff peak. Do not over whip and make the whites dry!! Add the maple syrup, cinnamon, fruits and nuts to the oatmeal mixture and stir to combine. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Take about 1/4 of the whipped egg whites and stir that into the oatmeal mixture to lighten it then pour mix into the remaining whites and gently fold to combine. Do not over fold the mixture. It is okay to have a few streaks of whites remaining. Pour into the prepared baking dish and place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes without opening the oven door. After 30 minutes remove from oven and serve immediately.

The last few days, here in Wisconsin, have been pretty cold and gloomy-typical Autumn weather. In fact, on Saturday it even snowed. Not much, but more than just an occasional flake floating through the air. It’s been good weather to bundle up with a cup of coffee or spiced cider, spiked with bourbon or rum, of course and read or watch a movie or two. It has also gotten me in the mood to whip up a big batch of granola. I always associate granola with fall and winter. I’m not sure why as granola makes a great breakfast year, but for some reason I have always associated it with colder weather.

One of the great things about granola is it is so easily customizable to what is on hand or what I have a taste for. Sometimes I load it up with tons of nuts, other times it takes a decidedly tropical twist with coconut and various dried tropical fruits. Sometimes it is heavily spiced or really sweet, other times I go for a more subtle flavor profile, it all depends on my mood.

The granola I offer today falls into that last category, lightly spiced and just slightly sweet, studded with pieces of sweet-tart dried apricots, sliced almonds, and as a nod to Fall, pumpkin seeds.

Apricot, Almond & Pumpkin Seed Granola

5 cups Oats
1 1/2 cups Sliced Almonds
1 cup Pumpkin Seeds (I used purchased pumpkin seeds without the shell)
1/2 cup Wheat Germ
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Honey
2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
2 tsp. Almond Extract
1/2 pound Dried Apricots, diced

Preheat the oven to 300. Combine oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and wheat germ in a large bowl. In a small sauce pot combine oil, sugar and honey. Heat to dissolve sugar. When sugar is dissolved, remove pot from heat, allow to cool for 10 minutes then add the cinnamon and almond extract. Slowly pour over oat mixture, stirring to combine. Stir until well mixed then pour onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 35-45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes for the first 30 minutes, then every 5 minutes until done. Granola is done when it is all a light golden brown and crunchy. Allow to cool completely then fold in the dried apricots. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Serve in a bowl of milk, like cereal or topped with yogurt and a drizzle of honey.