Inspiration
I think I saw the concept for coffee oatmeal on a blog somewhere, but this isn't copied from a recipe so I had to make it up. I usually make my oats the night before or in a big batch for the week. By making the oats ahead of time and allowing them to sit overnight, you end up with a bigger bowl of oatmeal than you would if you made it that minute. It's the same concept as the growing bowl of oatmeal, adding more water than called for and giving it more time to "cook".My breakfast ended up being mocha oats since I added cocoa. I was afraid the coffee flavor would be too flat so I added the cocoa powder in the morning, but it's actually best to add it the night before so it has time to fully hydrate.
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| Dry ingredients |
Since I make my oatmeal ahead of time and I like it really thick, the amount of water I used is different than what you might like. If you're making your oats to eat right now or can't wait until later, you'll probably want to reduce the water to 1/2 cup or so, depending on the texture you prefer your oatmeal to be.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1 T chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon instant decaf coffee
- 3/4 cup water (or replace instant coffee and water with 3/4 cup brewed coffee)
- 1.5 teaspoons cocoa powder
Instructions
Mix all of the ingredients and heat for 1 minute in the microwave. Stir, and heat for one more minute. Let sit overnight in the microwave. By microwaving, you're starting the cooking process, which allows the oats to soak up more water. I've tried it where I heat it for only one minute the night before, and the oats didn't soak up much water at all. |
| After going for a spin in the microwave two times. |
I top my oatmeal with a "milk float" of 1T non-dairy creamer and 2 T almond milk.
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| This is how it looks in the morning after the water is absorbed. |
Verdict
Deep, dark flavor to start your morning.I'm not sure why I waited so long to try this, but I thought this was awesome. Oats work really well with coffee. The coffee flavor was perfect, not too strong or too weak.
According to The Flavor Bible, coffee goes well with banana too, so I'm going to have to try that sometime.
Since I typically make a large batch of oats at once and divide it into containers to eat for the week, I'll have to see how it is if I mix the instant crystals into the oatmeal in the morning. But this is definitely on my list of go-to flavors for oatmeal.
I talked Husband Jeff into trying a bite and he didn't care for it. He said, "We have different ideas of what tastes good."