I was scrolling through Instagram Monday night and I saw a picture of baked oatmeal from Chef Josh Charles. For those of you who don’t know Josh, he’s a chef based in St. Louis who does recipe development and consulting work.

I met him about a year ago when I’d just moved back to St. Louis. I wanted to pick his brain about the city’s food scene and also, about what I should do to further my food career. He gave me some good advice. Josh’s encouragement convinced me to stay in town and make a go of food writing and recipe development in St. Louis.

Fast-forward to Monday night. I had a bunch of raspberries that I needed to use up, and I wanted to make something that would make me want to get out of bed on Tuesday morning. Going back to work is never easy after a three-day weekend, but in my case, it was more like a six-day weekend because I had the flu last week.

This baked oatmeal makes getting out of bed worth it. Yeah, you have to get up a little early to make it (unless you make it the night before and warm it up in the morning). But I’d advocate for making it the day-of. It’s quick and easy, and it will make your kitchen smell good. Those are three of my favorite qualities in a recipe.

I tweaked Josh’s recipe a little because I’m a sugar fiend. His was pretty bare bones in terms of sweetener, relying only on a banana for extra sweetness. I added some maple syrup to the batter AND I sprinkled powdered sugar on top. You can omit either of these, but I’d stick with the maple syrup in the batter. It pairs well with the banana and oats.

You can serve the baked oatmeal with more sliced banana and raspberries on top. I did that this morning and I liked it more than yesterday morning, when I just used raspberries and powdered sugar. I like combining textures and flavors. Plus, if you heat the leftover baked oatmeal up in the microwave it will be piping hot, so the bananas and berries cool it down.

Here’s a song to get you started on your baked oatmeal journey. I’m not making any guarantees but I think it goes pretty well with the flavors in the dish.

Baked Oatmeal with Raspberries and Banana (slightly adapted from Chef Josh Charles)

Ingredients

1 banana
2 eggs
8 oz almond milk
4 oz coconut oil (melted)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
6 oz rolled oats
3 oz all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 small package fresh raspberries
pinch of salt
powdered sugar for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan and set aside.

Smash the banana with a fork or masher and mix it with the eggs, almond milk, coconut oil, and maple syrup. Add the cinnamon, oats, flour, salt, and baking powder, and mix with a spoon to combine. Gently fold in the raspberries with a spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until set. Allow to cool on a wire rack before serving. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top once it’s cool. Enjoy!