Bobby Flay's Steel Cut Oatmeal with Cinnamon Cream

I love oatmeal for breakfast, and this was a great idea, and such a treat.  The boys gave this a perfect 10, and I gave it a 9, because I felt like there was a little too much orange flavor for me, but I really loved this, and the boys thought it was fun to see the sugar get hard and crunchy with my brulee torch :).  Each serving was 360 calories, for eight servings, but this was a little more than one serving.  We found this in Bobby Flay's Bar Americain cookbook, and here's what to do:

Oatmeal:
1 1/4 c steel cut oats
pinch of salt
1/2 c whole milk
2 t finely grated orange zest
1/4 c packed light brown sugar

Topping:
2 T sugar
2 T maple syrup
1/8 t ground cinnamon
1/2 c raisins
2 T unsalted butter
2 T light brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
4 T sugar
Cinnamon Cream (found in the cookbook)

Bring 5 1/2 c water to a boil over high heat.  Stir in the oats, salt, and zest and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed (I didn't nee more water), until the oats are tender, 30-40 minutes.  Stir in the milk and brown sugar and cook for 1 minute.
While the oatmeal is cooking, combine the granulated sugar, 3/4 c water, the maple syrup, and the cinnamon in a small saucepan and boil it over high heat.  Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 1 minute.  Remove from the heat, stir in the raisins, and let sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes.
Heat the butter, add the brown sugar and salt, and cook until melted.  Add the apples and raisin mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft, about 15 minutes.
Place a little apple mixture in the bowl, then top with some oatmeal, then layer the apple mixture, then top with more oatmeal, then sprinkle some granulated sugar on top and torch with a brulee torch or broil until the sugar melts and crisps up.  Serve with some cinnamon cream or other creamy topping.

365 Days of Crockpot's Steel Cut Oats with Cranberries

So I found this recipe in the 365 Days of Slow Cooking cookbook, but you can find the same recipe here.  This is a great recipe, but I still am disbelieving that you can let this cook overnight.  I think if you have a small enough crock pot, and are willing to give up sleep (which I am not), you could maybe make this work for an overnight thing.  I let mine cook for 5-6 hours, and it was done and over cooking a little at the edges.  So yeah, no overnight thing for me.  If someone has luck cooking steel cut oats overnight, let me know, I would love to have hot oatmeal overnight without having to get up and make it in my morning fog.  Regardless, this is wonderful oatmeal, and still easy, just not in the morning.  We gave this a perfect 10, and each serving (5 servings) was 352 calories.  Here's what I did:

1 c steel cut oats
1 c Craisins
1/4 c brown sugar
3 1/2 c water
dash of salt

Spray your crock with cooking oil.  Add all the ingredients in, and cook for about 5 hours.  Serve with more brown sugar, milk, etc.

Flour Too's Steel Cut Oatmeal with Pear Compote

I found this recipe in my Flour, Too cookbook, and I really enjoyed it.  Aaron didn't love it, but the rest of us did, and Aaron really liked the candied pecans.  This is one of those satisfying breakfasts for me, I could eat oatmeal every day :), and this is my first time trying steel cut oats, and I really enjoyed them.  For five servings, each serving was 506 calories.  Here's what to do:

Pear Compote:
4 pears, peeled and chopped
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 t vanilla
pinch of salt

Crunchy Pecans
2 T sugar
3/4 c pecans, chopped finely

Oatmeal
2 c whole milk
1/8 t salt
1 c steel-cut oats
dash of nutmeg
1/4 t cinnamon

Combine the pears, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a small pan and cook until the pears have softened and broken down, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a pan, bring milk, water, salt and oats to a boil over high heat, then stir, and reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes.  Also meanwhile :), in a small saucepan, mix together the sugar, and 2 T water and bring to a boil over high heat.  Let it caramelize and turn brown, then add in the pecans, stirring until all the pecans are covered.  Spread on a plate and let cool.
When ready to serve, divide the oatmeal, top with the pears, and break up the pecans and divide them among the servings.