Slow Cooker Cherry Pie Oatmeal, ILY <3 I got home from my week and a half long trip up to NorCal, over to Hawaii, back to NorCal, and finally home to Santa Barbara late last night and, boy, am I ready for a lazy day at home! Unfortunately, that can’t entirely happen, since I have so much work to catch up on, but hey, at least I can do the work from home in my sweatpants 😉
Because I wanted to get a jump on my first day “back in the office” (ahem, my kitchen/couch) I decided to throw the ingredients for this Slow Cooker Cherry Pie Oatmeal together in my Crockpot last night. Nothing like having a healthy, delicious, incredibly November-y breakfast ready to devour as soon as I wake up!
Can we just take a minute here to acknowledge what a truly amazing creation this idea called slow cooker oatmeal is? I mean, think about it. We all know that this particular breakfast food is a nutritional powerhouse (and can easily be jazzed up to be even more nutritious,) but if you’re anything like me, you’re way too ravenous in the morning to stand over a slowly simmering pot on the stove, waiting for it to get all creamy and delicious. (And stop right there, you microwave oatmeal packet fans, be sure you’re reading the ingredients on those, there are often a lot of hidden not-so-good-for-you additives hidden in them!)
Enter: Slow Cooker Cherry Pie Oatmeal (basically the only way I am enjoying oatmeal these days.) I can’t remember EXACTLY how I came up with the idea to basically pile all of the cherry pie flavors/ingredients together with steel cut oats and two types of milk, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it was spurred by my recent use of some leftover frozen cherries I had on hand in the hubs and my morning smoothie. We’re usually very much creatures of habit with our Power Protein Smoothie, but sometimes my desire to use up whatever fruit we have in the freezer leads to some pretty great things. This was one of them.
I’m saving our new favorite Cherry-Vanilla Smoothie for another post, so in the meantime I’m hoping to tide you over with Slow Cooker Cherry Pie Oatmeal. And let’s be honest, we’re way more into cozy, warm, tummy-filling breakfasts during these cooler winter months than icy, frozen smoothies, am I right?
After coming home from a good amount of time on the road, there’s nothing more comforting to me than a big, warm bowl of oats. This Slow Cooker Cherry Pie Oatmeal is mostly healthy, with a little dash of extravagance to really put it over the top and keep you running back to the Crockpot for more.
The ingredients are so easy, and you’ll likely have everything but the frozen cherries (an easy pickup at any grocery store) on hand in your pantry already. We’re combining all of the classic cherry pie flavors; namely cherry, lemon and almond; and putting them all together with some hearty steel cut oats, a little brown sugar, and plenty of creamy liquid (oh hey, coconut and almond milks!)
We throw everything into the slow cooker before bed, and in the morning all that’s left to do before digging in is whip up our show stopping almond, brown sugar and butter streusel to sprinkle over the top. I suppose you could even skip this part, but let me just say you’d be doing yourself an honest injustice. Guys, the topping makes this dish. It may not be entirely healthy, but since the rest of the dish is pretty spot-on nutrition-wise, we can certainly make a little exception. You know how I like my balance!
The other great thing about this Slow Cooker Cherry Pie Oatmeal is that it saves and reheats really well. You can even put any extra streusel topping you have on the leftovers before refrigerating, and all you’ll have to do when you’re ready to indulge is pop it in the microwave! That is, if you even have leftovers, but something tells me that’s highly unlikely 😉
Cherries, lemon zest and almonds come together with steel cut oats to make a delicious slow cooker dish. Set it the night before and enjoy it in the morning!
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- 1 cup frozen cherries, halved
- 1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 1/2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Combine all oatmeal ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 7-8 hours, stirring once (if possible, but this is not absolutely necessary.)
When oatmeal is finished cooking, make topping. Place butter, brown sugar and slivered almonds in a small bowl and mix with fingers until well combined.
Scoop warm oatmeal into individual bowls and top each bowl with a generous amount of the topping. Serve immediately.
Cherry pie in the best possible way!