Ultimate Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal

Servings 18 oatmeal cups

Ingredients

For the oatmeal cups:

3 cups old fashioned rolled outs not quick oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 4 ounce containers pureed baby food carrots (about 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup grated fresh carrot
3/4 cup crushed pineapple lightly drained (I used canned pineapple in it's own juice, not in syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk I used 1%
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup golden raisins

For the filling:

about 3 ounces block cream cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. This recipe makes about 18 oatmeal cups. You'll use a full muffin pan and part of another, or you can fill one full muffin pan and bake the rest of the batter in a small baking dish. Spray the muffin cups and/or baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the oats, cinnamon, salt and baking powder.
In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and brown sugar together until combined.
Add the pureed carrots, grated carrots, crushed pineapple, vanilla and milk to the egg mixture and stir until combined. Add the pecans and raisins and stir until distributed evenly.
Pour wet ingredient mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine. Set aside.
Cut dice sized cubes of cream cheese.
Scoop about a 1/4 cup of batter into prepared muffin pan/s. The batter is going to be very liquidy and appear like it's not holding together. It's not supposed to; just stir until everything is well combined. It's going to look very soupy. Try to insure each cup is filled pretty evenly with oats and liquid.
Place a cube of cream cheese on the top of each cup and use a spoon to press it into the center of the oatmeal, scooping oatmeal mixture from the cup over the cream cheese to completely cover it. Then, use the back of the spoon to smooth and even out the top of the mixture.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned.
Allow to cool completely before removing from pan. Serve.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat briefly in microwave or serve cold, if desired.

Recipe Notes

*Since this doesn't fill two full muffin pans, you'll have some empty cups in your pan. Fill these half way with water so that the pan doesn't over heat.

*You don't have to go crazy straining your crushed pineapple. It's okay to be juicy. I just used a spoon to lightly strain it against the side of the can before spooning into a measuring cup.

*Please insure you use old fashioned rolled oats, not quick oats. Quick oats don't stand up as well to all of the liquid in this recipe and you may end up with mushy oats.

*Like all of my baked oatmeal recipes, this one is just lightly sweetened. Feel free to double the sugar for extra sweetness.

*I used canned crushed pineapple in it's own juice. If you use pineapple in heavy syrup, it will add more sweetness to your oatmeal.

*I have frozen my Baked Banana Oatmeal cups with success. Because of the cream cheese filling in this recipe, I'm skeptical that it would hold up in the freezer without the texture being compromised. I may try it next time and will report back.