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Hearty Steel-Cut Oats with Maple Syrup, Dark Brown Sugar, & Bananas

During my summers growing up in high school in MA, I worked as a field hand at a local farm, planting, tending to, and harvesting various summer crops.
One of the business owners and active field hand managers swore that the best breakfast any person could start their day with was a homemade bowl of oatmeal topped with a hefty drizzle of maple syrup, some dark brown sugar, and a perfectly ripe sliced banana.
He would start cooking the oats right when he woke up, and then would proceed to shave and get ready for work. By the time he was ready to eat, the oats would be cooked, and he would add the maple syrup, brown sugar, and sliced bananas.
I don’t know that I would eat this same breakfast every single day with gusto for decades, but if this story doesn’t make you want to try out this recipe for oatmeal, I don’t know what will.
This recipe makes two giant bowls, or four smaller-sized servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup steel-cut oats
  • 3.25 cups of water
  • 2 Tbsp salted butter
  • 2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 ripe and perfect banana, sliced into ¼” rounds
  • 1 tsp dark brown sugar, as garnish and topping

Instructions

  • In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the steel-cut oats, water, salted butter, and kosher salt and cinnamon.
  • Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring the oats occasionally and carefully.
  • Once simmering, reduce the heat to low.
  • Cook the steel-cut oats for an additional 25-30 minutes, or according to your package instructions, while stirring occasionally.
  • *The instructions on your packaging will give a good measure of time required to finish cooking. Some oats require slightly more or less water and different cooking times.
  • When the oats are done cooking and are creamy, thick, and tender, remove them from the heat and let the oatmeal cool for a minute.
  • When ready to serve, divide the oatmeal into two bowls, and top each with the maple syrup and dark brown sugar.
  • Top each bowl with slices of ripe banana.
  • Enjoy hot, and immediately.

Notes

This is best prepared and eaten right away, as leftover oatmeal is less than amazing.