I read a couple of recipes for this—some were made on the stove, some in the oven but all gave a nod to carrot cake. Now I love carrot cake, except so often it’s crazy sweet. So I looked for a recipe that used steel cut oats, cooked in the oven and didn’t rely on lots of refined sugar. And when I couldn’t find my unicorn recipe, I cobbled together my own.This is a savory breakfast, with just a hint of sweet. If you like things sweeter, add more sugar or maple syrup.
Updated to reflect using the julienne slicer on the food processor (worked just fine) and the lower oven temp. These changes were real winners.
Ingredients
- 1 C steel cut oats
- 1 t cinnamon
- ¼ t ground ginger
- ½ t freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and put through a food process with a julienne blade (or use a mandolin)
- 1 medium apple, cored and diced (I left the peel on for more color)
- ½ C unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ C golden raisins
- 2 C almond milk (or milk or coconut milk)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 T butter, melted
- 2 T packed brown sugar (some recipes called for maple syrup but that combo didn’t appeal to me)
- 1 t vanilla
- ½ C chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Butter a square baking pan (approximately 9" x 9")
- Combine all dry ingredients (except the walnuts) and the carrots and apple in a large bowl and stir well. Place in the baking pan and make sure everything is evenly distributed.
- Combine the wet ingredients, including the sugar, and mix well
- Gently pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients in the baking pan. You want to make sure everything stays nice and mixed up and that all the dry ingredients are covered.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle the chopped walnuts evenly all over the mixture and return to the oven.
- Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until done. For me, this has only needed another 20 minutes.
- Let sit for about 10 minutes, then cut into six pieces.
- Enjoy!
