Issue #196: Breakfast Oatmeal Squares

What To Eat in the Morning, Oatmeal Porridge Alternatives

I’m always looking for new breakfast ideas.

Research published in the academic journal Appetite in 2021 suggests that 78% of Americans eat the exact same thing for breakfast at least twice a week.

Not me.

I need to mix things up. Eggs one day, toast and almond butter the next. If I have toast and almond butter two days in a row, I’ll change up the bread and/or the jam. Pancakes and waffles of many varieties, muffins, avocado toast, yogurt, granola, poha (Indian pounded rice). These are some of the things in my early morning rotation.

Nate doesn’t care. He could eat pancakes and/or cheesy scrambled eggs every day.

Kimchi oatmeal with chili oil is more my savory breakfast speed, but I didn’t love it.

In other ways my breakfast preferences differ from Nate’s. I would almost always choose savory over sweet, if I had to choose. Both is good, too. I love the breakfasts in Japan, India, China, Scandinavia, Turkey, and Israel, where the selection of savory and/or spicy and/or fishy foods and vegetables outweighs the other options.

(Which isn’t to say that I won’t enjoy a pile of pastries for breakfast tomorrow, as we’re heading to Paris tonight.)

Hand-rolled oats with yogurt, blueberry compote, and sourdough granola. A sweet breakfast option that happens to be pretty savory.

A few years ago my cardiologist suggested I should eat oatmeal several times a week. I’ve never been a fan of oatmeal, and when I did eat it, I always preferred salt and butter to sugar and cinnamon.

To keep my interest up, I got myself an FlicFloc—a handsome German oat roller—so I could roll my own, so to speak. I think I ate oatmeal for three consecutive days and then put the flocker and the oats away

This is how we roll.

It’s not that I don’t like oats. I love them. And in fact, oatmeal has grown on me. But I keep trying to find other ways to consume oats in the morning to keep my interest piqued. I thought I’d love savory kimichi oatmeal, but I didn’t. In just the last few weeks I tried Scottish oat cakes (nicely salty), a recipe for baked oatmeal, that’s more like a solid porridge, and the recipe I’m sharing today.

About-to-be-baked oatmeal with fresh berries and toasted nuts.

So far, my favorite oatmeal alternative has been this breakfast bake, a kind of muffin sheet cake you cut into squares. I started with something that popped up in the New York Times Cooking app, but I adjusted it for my preferences and pantry, reducing the sugar, swapping in some whole-grain flour, adding some dried fruit, some toasted nuts, and substituting some of the yogurt for sourdough discard. The writer of the original recipe, Samantha Seneviratne, might not recognize it. I think it’s delicious.

Breakfast Oatmeal Squares. Maybe not the most beautiful, but so far my favorite oatmeal way to start the day.

RECIPE: Breakfast Oatmeal Squares

Makes 16 squares, which I consider 8 servings

• 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or coconut yogurt

• 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

• 1/4 cup sourdough discard (mine is 100% rye, 100% hydration), or additional whole-milk yogurt

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as canola or peanut

• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup whole wheat or other whole grain flour, or additional all-purpose four

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 cup dried fruit, such as blueberries, cranberries, cherries, or a combination

• 1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment with overhang on at least 2 sides and grease with pan spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt brown sugar, applesauce, sourdough discard or additional yogurt, eggs, vanilla, and salt, until blended. Add the oats, flours, cinnamon, banking powder, and baking soda, and, using a ruber spatula, stir until a little streaky but almost fully combined. Add the dried fruit and toasted nuts and continue mixing until evenly distributed. Don’t over mix.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan, using an offset spatula to spread it out evenly into the corners of the pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, until obviously risen and set and the center springs back to the touch.

Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely. Run a knife along the edges without any parchment and lift out the cooled “cake” onto a cutting board. Cut evenly into 16 squares. Transfer to an airtight container to store at room temperature for up to 3 days, a week in the fridge, and longer in the freezer. Microwave for 20 seconds to warm through before serving. Makes a great breakfast with a bowl of yogurt and fresh fruit.