Creamy coconut oatmeal with spiced pears
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
pears:
- 3 large pears or 4 small pears, 800g / 1.8 lbs
- 2 tablespoons xylitol or sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- a pinch of cardamom
- 1 clove
- ½ star anise optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
oatmeal:
- 1 cup rolled oats about 100g / 3.5 oz, I used fine-sized rolled oats
- 1 can coconut milk 400 ml / 14 fl oz
- ½ cup cow milk / plant-based milk / water 120 ml
- pinch of salt
- 1.5 tablespoons xylitol or sugar
- a large pinch cardamom
- 1 clove
- ½ star anise optional
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
to serve:
- 1 tablespoon shredded unsweetened coconut
- maple syrup
Instructions
pears:
- Peel, core and quarter the pears, cut the quarters into cubes, add to a medium pot.
- Combine with the xylitol / sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, star anise, vanilla and salt.
- Cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring, until the pears are very tender, but still in pieces and a thick syrup forms at the bottom of the pot.
oatmeal:
- Add the oats, milk, sweetener and other spices to a medium pot (everything from the list except from the lemon juice), mix thoroughly together.
- Cook over low heat for about 3 minutes (for fine rolled oats) or about 10 minutes (regular size rolled oats) until soft and creamy. The oatmeal will be still a bit too runny but it will thicken considerably upon cooling.
- Take two heaped tablespoons of the spiced pears and transfer to a plate, mash well with a fork, add to the oatmeal and stir in (this step is optional, but improves the taste!). Stir in the lemon juice.
serve:
- Pour the oatmeal into bowls, pour spiced pears on top, sprinkle with shredded coconut.
- Take out cloves and star anise before serving.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Oats - I like to use small-sized rolled oats. They are not instant oats, but just rolled oats cut into smaller pieces. They are soft after just 3 minutes of cooking time, instead of 10 minutes.Use whatever oats you have on hand but remember to adjust the cooking time.
- Pears - Ideally, the pears should be rather firm, but also ripe. If you'll use firm, unripe pears they just need to be cooked longer and you'll need to add more sweetener since they are less sweet. Very ripe soft pears need to be cooked very briefly or they will quickly fall apart.
- Spices - You don't have to use all the spices listed in the recipe if you don't have them on hand but I really recommend getting them. You can also add gingerbread spice mix or pumpkin pie spice.
- Milk - This recipe uses 1 can coconut milk plus little extra regular milk (you can use cow milk or plant-based milk). You could make all-coconut milk oatmeal, but then you'll have 1 cup of coconut milk to use up. The oatmeal is intensely coconutty and you'll be fulfilled for a long time. If you want lighter oatmeal you could add 50:50 coconut milk and cow/plant-based milk. Just don't change the liquid to oats ratio, for me, this ratio is best. I don't like my oatmeal thick, but rather runny and creamy. You can adjust the ratio to your preferences. Remember though, the oatmeal will look very runny at first, but when you'll transfer it into your bowl it will quickly start to cool and thicken - the consistency will be perfect.
- How to serve: Serve the oatmeal with the pears on top or just stir the oatmeal and the pears together but I think spooning the pears on top makes for a nicer presentation.
- Storage - the oatmeal taste the same the next day, but looks rather pale and is very thick. Just add more milk and warm up.
Nutrition
Calories: 454kcal