Baked Oatmeal

Baked Oatmeal

Baked Oatmeal

Fully customizable to suit your family’s tastes!

Servings

9

Prep time:

10 min

Total Time:

45 minutes

Good For:

Breakfast

Inroduction

About this Recipe

I love oatmeal…but sometimes the mushy texture of stovetop or microwave versions aren’t what I have in mind. I fell in love with baked oatmeal at a writers’ conference in Pennsylvania and tried for years to replicate the delicious dish.

I finally found a base recipe that turned out how I wanted in terms of texture, and from there I tweaked to suit my family’s tastes. We use Swerve Brown to cut down on our sugar intake without compromising on sweet or that rich brown sugar taste. Each family member can then customize to tastemy daughter will add maple syrup and milk, I’ll add sugar-free syrup and peanut butter and milk, my husband will do some fresh fruit. You can add those stir-ins into the recipe itself and bake them in, or make your additions right in your own bowl.

Ingredients

Instructions

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 ½ cups milk (dairy or plant-based)
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • ½ cup sweetener—maple syrup, brown sugar, or Swerve Brown all work great
  • ¼ cup (half stick) butter, melted
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup stir-ins like fresh berries, chopped nuts, or chocolate chips (optional)

 

For Banana Variation

  • 2 overripe bananas, mashed
  • Decrease to 1 cup milk (rather than 1 ½ cups)
  • Everything else as above

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Prepare. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8×8 baking dish or a 2-qt oblong dish.
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  2. Whisk (and mash, if relevant). If you’re doing the banana variation, mash up your bananas and then move to the whisking; if you’re doing plain or fresh fruit variations, go straight to whisking together milk, eggs, sweetener, butter, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.
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  3. Mix in the oats. If you’re using any stir-ins like berried, nuts, or chocolate chips, stir them in last.
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  4. Pour. Pour the oats mixture into your prepared baking dish and smooth the top.
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  5. Bake. For 30-40 minutes or until it’s set and no longer wet-looking.
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  6. Serve. Let cool for 5 minutes and then cut into squares. Serve with milk, syrup, honey, or whatever strikes your fancy. My family loves adding a bit of peanut butter and syrup to the base recipe and then pouring milk overtop!

From the Books

Breakfasts weren’t often mentioned in Yesterday’s Tides,
but this oatmeal would have been on the table at the inn, for sure!

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Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

Egg noodle drop dumplings take center stage in a thick and creamy sauce.

Servings

6-8

Prep time:

10 min

Total Time:

40 minutes

Good For:

Dinner

Inroduction

About this Recipe

One of my favorite meals has long been Chicken and Dumplings, made from a recipe that appeared in my church cookbook when I was a kid. I’ve tried many other recipes over the years, but I always go back to these dense egg noodle dumplings in this hearty, creamy sauce.

Now, I admit it. My favorite version of the sauce is the one made from canned Cream of Chicken soup and evaporated milk. But if you’re a clean-eating, no-canned-soup kind of family, the from-scratch sauce recipe is just as tasty and only takes a few minutes longer.

Ingredients

Instructions

For the Dumplings

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk

Easy-Peasy Sauce (Option 1)

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cans cream of chicken soup
  • 5 oz evaporated milk
  • 1 can water
  • 1 can milk

From Scratch Sauce (Option 2)

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cube chicken bouillon OR 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper

For Chicken

    • 1 pound chicken, cooked
  1. Make the dumplings. Fill large pot about halfway full with water and put on to boil. While the water heats, mix together your dumpling ingredients. The dough should be wet and sticky. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, drop by spoonful into the boiling water. (They come off the spoon most easily if you put the spoon into the water and give it a shake). Cook for 20 minutes.
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  2. Cook your chicken. If you’re using boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut them into cubes and brown in a chicken fryer, salting and peppering to taste. You can also use shredded chicken if you have some leftover from a roast or rotisserie. Just as good! Once chicken is cooked, remove from pan.
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  3. Make the sauce. Using the same pan in which you’d cooked the chicken, melt the butter and then add the flour, whisking to create a thick paste. Add in your liquid ingredients and whisk until smooth. If you’re making your sauce from scratch, add the spices once it’s smooth.
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  4. Drain the dumplings and combine. Once the dumplings are cooked, drain them in a colander. Add dumplings and your chicken to the sauce and stir.

From the Books

Chicken and Dumplings may not be mentioned in Yesterday’s Tides, but you can bet their Southern table would feature it now and again! Given the popular duck hunting on the islands at the time, the ladies probably would have substituted the water fowl for the chicken when they had fresh meat too.

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Classic French Baguette

Classic French Baguette

Classic French Baguette

Delicious, crusty loaves made in the traditional fashion.

Servings

12

Prep time:

30 min

Total Time:

14 hours (overnight)

Good For:

Bread

Inroduction

About this Recipe

If there’s anything better than a classic, crusty baguette, I’ve yet to find it. These long loaves are delicious (that overnight rise lets the flavors do some amazing things!), versatile, and provide a sensory experience that softer breads just can’t aspire to. Smother them with butter, broil some deli meat and cheese on them for lunch, dip in spiced olive oil for an appetizer, or top with honey or jam for a sweet treat.

Traditional baguettes are made using a baker’s couche—thick fabric that holds its shape, encouraging the loaves to rise how you want them to without spreading into each other. You can also use shaped baguette pans, or, if you don’t have any of that, just tear off a long piece of parchment paper, leaving plenty of room between each loaf and then pulling the paper up between them. If you have a digital scale, measure your ingredients by weight instead of volume for more accuracy.

The real secret to that crusty baguette, though, is putting a pan of boiling water in the oven with the bread. The steam is the key to the crust!

Ingredients

Instructions

  • 500 grams / 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 360 grams / 1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon water
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.
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  2. Work the dough. Sprinkle a little more flour on the dough so you can work with it, then stretch and turn the dough, folding it onto itself. Flip it upside down. Do this three times over the course of about 90 minutes.
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  3. With the bowl covered again, let it rest on the counter overnight, or for 12-14 hours.
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  4. The next morning, divide the dough into two or three rectangles. Cover with a towel and let them rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
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  5. Pre-heat your oven to 500. To get the oven good and hot, start the heat cycle while the dough is resting, especially if you’re baking on a baking stone (which is recommended). You need two oven racks for this process; the top one will hold your bread. On the bottom rack, you’ll be putting a pan filled with boiling water. The steam it makes gives the baguette its classic crust.
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  6. Shape the dough. Stretch each rectangle and fold into a cylinder. Seal the seams and put it seam-down on parchment paper, baguette pans, or a couche. Let the dough rest for another 30 minutes.
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  7. Score the loaves. With a sharp knife, make diagonal cuts in each loaf.
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  8. Add water to oven. Fill a pan (an 8×8 or loaf pan works great) with boiling water and slide it onto the bottom rack of the oven.
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  9. Bake. Decrease oven to 475 and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the water, decrease temp to 450, and bake another 15 minutes.

From the Books

With her French influence, Evie loves to introduce some Continental favorites into the menu of the inn. Though not mentioned explicitly, you can be sure that French baguettes were a favorite loaf at her table!

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Ocracoke Fig Cake

Ocracoke Fig Cake

Ocracoke Fig Cake

An island classic, traditionally using fig preserves made from locally grown fruit.

Servings

16

Prep time:

30 min

Total Time:

1.5 hours

Good For:

Dessert

Inroduction

About this Recipe

Each year on Ocracoke, the village hosts a Fig Festival. During this celebration, locals and visitors alike enjoy all manner of treats made from the locally grown figs. Fig cake always features prominently, made with fig preserves, which can be found in shops all over the island. (If you can’t make it to Ocracoke to get their locally jarred preserves, try Braswell’s!)

Eating lower sugar or sugar free? Substitute the granulated sugar with All Purpose In the Raw or another sugar alternative and enjoy the taste without the calories or the blood sugar spikes! Don’t have buttermilk? Start with a tablespoon of lemon juice and then fill the rest of the 1/2 cup with regular milk and let it sit for a minute to sour.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 ½ cups sugar or sugar alternative
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon cloves
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon warm water
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups fig preserves
  • 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts (optional)
  1. Prepare. Pre-heat your oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan, either smooth-sided or fluted.
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  2. Mix wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil and mix well. Pour in buttermilk and continue to mix.
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  3. Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and spices. Set aside.
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  4. Dissolve baking soda in warm water.
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  5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until combined. Add in baking soda and vanilla. Finally, stir in the fig preserves and nuts.
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  6. Bake for approximately 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely before taking out of pan.

From the Books

Fig cake is mentioned several times in Yesterday’s Tides. As one of the island’s most distinctive recipes, each family has their own favorite version, and Serena at the Ocracoke Inn is no exception!

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Classic Cinnamon Rolls

Classic Cinnamon Rolls

Classic Cinnamon Rolls

Fill them with jam or cinnamon…smother them with icing…and dive in and enjoy!

Servings

12

Prep time:

45 min

Total Time:

12 hours (overnight)

Good For:

Breakfast, Dessert

Inroduction

About this Recipe

 

Is there anything better than an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll? These sweet rolls are fully customizable. Fill them with apple, strawberry, peanut butter, or anything else your little heart desires.

Eating lower sugar or sugar free? Substitute the granulated sugar with All Purpose In the Raw or another sugar alternative and the confectioner’s sugar with Swerve Confection and enjoy the taste without the calories or the blood sugar spikes!

Ingredients

For the Dough

  • 1 cup milk (whole is best; if you don’t have whole, add a tablespoon of cream to your measuring cup and then fill the rest of the way with other milk)
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar or sugar alternative (I love All Purpose In the Raw!)
  • 2 packets or 1.5 tablespoons active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened and in 4 pieces
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4.5 cups (558 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

For Classic Cinnamon Filling

  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar or sugar alternative
  • 1.5 tablespoons cinnamon

For Apple Filling

  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar or sugar alternative (I like Swerve Brown)
  • 1.5 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 2 cups chopped and peeled apples (about 2 medium apples)

For Jam Filling

  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup jam of choice
  • 1 cup chopped fruit of choice (optional)

For Icing

  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar or sugar alternative
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  1.  Making the dough. First, warm your milk either in the microwave or on the stove until it’s warm but not hot, about 95°F or 35°C. Add to the bowl of an electric stand mixer with a dough hook. Sprinkle sugar and yeast over the milk and whisk by hand for a few seconds (if you’re using a sugar alternative, be sure to add at least a tablespoon of regular sugar to feed the yeast–don’t worry, it’ll eat it all up!). Let the yeast sit for 5-15 minutes, until it’s creamy and foamy. Beat in the softened butter on low; it will break up but not totally incorporate. Add the eggs and salt. Gradually add the flour. Once all ingredients are added, increase speed to medium and mix until it turns into a soft dough. Increase speed again to medium high and knead for 6 minutes.
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  2. Proof the dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it by hand for a minute, then form into a ball. Put into a grased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 1-2 hours, or until it has doubled in size. (If your kitchen is cool, turn the oven onto the lowest setting, then turn off as soon as it reaches temp. Slide the bowl into the oven.
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  3. Roll the dough. Grease a 9×12 baking dish. Turn the risen dough out onto a floured work surface and roll to a 12×18″ rectangle. Dough should be smooth and of even thickness.
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  4. Filling. Spread softened butter over the entire rectangle. If you’re using the classic cinnamon filling, mix your sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and then sprinkle evenly over it. If you’re using fruit, spread the fruit (and brown sugar, for the apple) over the butter.
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  5. Make the rolls. Working from the LONG side, roll the dough into a tight log. You want it to be 18″ long when you’re done. Cut into 12 rolls. Arrange them in your baking dish with the cut sides up. Cover and store overnight or for about 12 hours in the fridge.
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  6. Second Rise. In the morning, remove the rolls from the fridge and let rise in a warm spot for 1-2 hours, until they’re puffy.
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  7. Bake. Bake the rolls at 375°F / 190°C for 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. (Check them halfway through; if they’re starting to brown too much, cover them with foil.) Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.
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  8. Icing. While the rolls cool, mix the icing ingredients in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Spread evenly over rolls.
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  9. Enjoy!

From the Books

Cinnamon Rolls are featured in several of my books! Mrs. Dawe was renowned for her sweet rolls in the Secrets of the Isles series (as was Polmer’s Bakery!), and the ladies of the Ocracoke Inn in Yesterday’s Tides treat their guests to them as well!

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