Cozy pajamas. Cozy beds. Cozy blankets. Cozy breakfast. I’ve got that last one covered with this steel cut buttermilk oatmeal. The others are up to you, but this would pair well with any of the other aforementioned.
I’m one of those weirdos that loves buttermilk…as a drink. I’ve mentioned it before and I attribute it to the fact that while baking a lot of super sweet things and trying and trying again cake batters and frostings. Cake batters made with buttermilk means that extra buttermilk is often lying around, and I found it to be the perfect antidote to frosting overload. Eventually the antidote became enjoyable on its own and here we are with me drinking straight up buttermilk like a grandma. I’d like to disclaim that I don’t go out and buy buttermilk just to drink it, but I don’t mind if I have to, ya know?
Anyway, what I do love is oatmeal and after years of downright hating it, I started eating it obsessively in law school because I found that adding just a wee bit of…wait for it…vanilla flavored coffee mate to it, it was absolutely delicious. I went from not eating oatmeal at all to eating it every single day for like, 3 years. Talk about a 180! As I got older and attempted to clean up my diet of fake things, the coffee mate went by the wayside and I started liking oatmeal au natural and using natural ways to flavor it up.
I came across this recipe in Saveur and my buttermilk loving heart immediately wanted to try it. I kept some of the spice and omitted others, and went with a microwave baked apple rather than dried fruit for a more apple pie/apple cobbler vibe. Salted pecans for SURE and pistachios went in, and honey for some sugar and to ensure that the tang of the buttermilk was moderated.
If you don’t love buttermilk, you should try this anyway because it’s got a barely there flavor and I really don’t think you’ll put off by it. The sweet, the tang the crunch- it all makes up the perfect bowl of cozy. Because we’ve still got some long, cold, dark months ahead.
Oh and I’ve also got this one if you’re interested in this cozy oatmeal concept.
Steel Cut Buttermilk Oatmeal
Warm steel cut buttermilk oatmeal is the perfect, healthy, fulfilling breakfast for those winter mornings that require a cozy breakfast.
Ingredients
- 1/2 TB unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup steel-cut oats
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/3 cup buttermilk plus 1/4 cup
- 2 TB whole milk
- 1/2 tbsp. honey
- 2 TB salted toasted pecans
- 2 TB pistachios
- 1 apple, diced and softened in the microwave
Directions
- Step 1 Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oats and spices and cook, stirring occasionally, until the oats are toasted, 2–3 minutes. Stir in the water
- Step 2 boil. Reduce heat to medium
- Step 3 cook, stirring occasionally, until oatmeal is tender, about 25 minutes. Add 1/3 cup buttermilk and whole milk
- Step 4 simmer until oatmeal is slightly thickened, 8–10 minutes. Stir in honey. Garnish each bowl with the half of the nuts and apple and an extra 2 TB buttermilk. Serve hot.
