toasted brown butter oats with coconut.

I thought I was sick of oatmeal.  I really did.  But then, during my weekly perusal of my favorite food blogs, I stumbled across a recipe for toasted brown butter oatmeal that left me literally salivating at the mouth.   

Toasted brown butter oatmeal with coconut?!  It just sounds like such a magical breakfast.   

And my god it is.  This is the oatmeal that dreams are made of.  This is the kind of thing I could eat every single day.  Toasted oats is genius.  Brown butter is also genius but you already knew that.  

Anson Mills oats are nutty to begin with but toasting them, toasting turns them into little flavor bombs.  But let's be honest, while fancy oats are nice, this preparation will produce just as transcendent results with your run of the mill Quaker Oats.  Brown butter and toasting the oats just produces magic.   Oh and the coconut and maple syrup? That just takes this to sublime.   Finish it off with an extra drizzle of maple syrup (more is never a bad thing), a handful of dried cherries, and a splash of milk.  Best. Breakfast. Ever.   

Toasted Brown Butter Oats with Coconut

Recipe adapted slightly from Not Without Salt

Serves 4 - Can be halved   

  

4 tablespoons butter

2 cups oats

2/3 cup coconut flakes

1/4 cup maple syrup, plus a little more for drizzling over top if you’d like

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

2 -2 1/2 cups whole milk

In a in a large saucepan or dutch oven brown the butter over medium high heat. You’ll know the butter is browned when it smells nutty and the milk solids sink to the bottom and start to turn golden in color. (About 3-6 minutes depending on the size of your pan and how much oatmeal you are making.  If you are halving this, 2 tablespoons of butter should only take about 3-4 minutes.)

Add the oats. Stir constantly until they start to toast and deepen in color, about 4 to 6 minutes. Add the coconut flakes and cook 1 minute more.

Stir in the maple syrup, vanilla and salt. Coat the oats in the syrup and cook until the bottom of the pan looks dry, about 1-2 minutes.

Slowly drizzle in the milk at first, while stirring the oats constantly. Add more milk as the oats absorb the liquid. After you've done this with the first cup or so of milk stir in the rest. For thicker oats use 2 cups for creamier, loose oatmeal add all of the milk.  Cook until most of the milk has been absorbed and the oatmeal is thickened.  

Serve while warm.

(If you are using Anson Mills oats you will want to remove the pot from the heat when the milk has been absorbed and cover the pot with the lid.  Let it rest 5 minutes before serving.)  

You can serve the toasty oats with a splash of cream, raisins or dried cherries, more maple syrup, muscavado sugar, dark brown sugar, more coconut – whatever you’d like.