This is the best breakfast I’ve had in a while, bar none.

I almost couldn’t believe it myself. After all, I made lemon cornmeal pancakes with roasted blackberries last week. And I still haven’t forgotten about my cinnamon raisin brioche French toast from a month ago. That was a highlight.

But this baked oatmeal was a cut above the rest. It combined two of my favorite fruits, blackberries and bananas, and one of my recent obsessions, coconut. I used to hate the taste and texture of coconut, but I’ve really come around to it lately. It adds some crunch and variety to a more basic dish, and the smell of it when it’s toasting in the oven is unreal.

I subbed in almond milk for coconut milk because I forgot to get a can at the grocery store. I’m happy that I did, though, because the coconut flavor was more subtle that way.

Also, the original recipe calls for slicing up two bananas to line the bottom of the pan, but I found that using one banana was enough. Then, you can slice up the second one and use it for serving.

The best part about this dish (besides eating it) is the smell when it comes out of the oven. Imagining opening a present and smelling a pancake, a muffin and baking bread all at once. It sounds like a dream, but that’s pretty much what happens here.

I found that drizzling the top with some maple syrup only adds to the effect.

Here are some tunes to get you going.

Blackberry and Banana Baked Oatmeal with Coconut (slightly tweaked from Cookie + Kate)

Ingredients

2 cups / 7 oz / 200 g rolled oats
½ cup unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
Scant ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
14 oz almond milk
⅓ cup / 2 oz water
⅓ cup / 2 oz / 60 g pure maple syrup (or raw sugar)
1 large egg
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 large ripe banana, cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup blackberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with a rack in the top third of the oven.

Butter or spray cooking oil on the inside of an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, coconut, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, coconut/almond milk, water, egg, half of the butter, and the vanilla.

Place the banana slices in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish.

Arrange two-thirds of the berries on top of the bananas.

Cover the fruit with the dry oat mixture, then drizzle the wet ingredients over the oats. Wiggle the baking dish to make sure the milk moves down through the oats.

Sprinkle some extra coconut on top.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden. Remove your baked oatmeal from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Serve with sliced bananas and maple syrup.