Recipe of the Day

Back in the day one of my most favorite business meeting venues was Heinemann's Restaurants.  Usually a breakfast meeting.  

Unless you lived in Milwaukee this story might not amount to much; nevertheless, Heinemann's was a well-known Milwaukee restaurant founded in 1923.  Alas, they closed in January of 2009 - a victim of the Great Recession and plenty of breakfast competition.  Not only did this event leave me without a business breakfast venue but no longer could I indulge in my most favorite menu item:  Heinemann's home-made baked oatmeal.

I recently did some surfing on the interweb to see if I could locate the recipe for the baked oatmeal.  Alas, following the closing of their restaurants the Heinemann family made the decision to keep the recipe for everyone's favorite baked oatmeal a closely-guarded family secret.  

Fortunately a former Heinemann kitchen worker published a recipe hack - reduced in size for a family instead of the hundreds of pounds they might otherwise have made for serving a business breakfast crowd.  Here it is: 

Heinemann's Baked Oatmeal

3 cups five-minute oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

2 t cinnamon

4 egg whites

1 cup whole milk

1 T vegetable oil

2 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients and mix well.  Pour into a buttered 8X8 or 9X9 inch square baking pan.

Bake 30 minutes or until center is firm and edges begin to brown.  Slice and serve warm with milk or cream.   

Optional toppings – fruit, raisins, dried cranberries, Door County dried cherries, granola, nuts, vanilla ice cream, etc.

Experiment by incorporating various dried fruits and/or nuts in the mixture before baking.

Can be made in-advance and frozen in individual portions.  Thaw in the fridge overnight and warm in the microwave for a quick and healthy breakfast.

Note:  I attempted this with Irish steel-cut oats and did not get the desired result as the oats did not cook thoroughly.   Store-brand five minute oats resulted in a texture similar to what I recall from Heinemann’s.   Because they are milled differently - McCann’s quick-cooking Irish rolled oats or Flahavan's Irish porridge oats should produce a finer-textured result.  You can’t have too many breakfast options.