Salted Caramel & Pear Oatmeal

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I have such fond memories in regards to oatmeal. Every morning, when I was in pre-k, my teacher would start off our day with oatmeal. I can still recall sitting at the tiny table with all my friends, while my teacher doled out small bowls of fragrant Quaker® oatmeal and passed around bananas and bright oranges. I have countless memories circling the unforgettable oatmeal raisin cookies that my mom makes. They’re perfect plucked fresh from the oven and served with a frosty glass of milk. Now, admittedly, I’m something of an oatmeal nut. There is something so comforting about the creaminess and warmth of a bowl of oatmeal. It’s quite literally the perfect breakfast, and its versatility knows no bounds.

The inspiration behind this oatmeal goes back about four years ago, where a friend of mine introduced me to the magic that is pears, draped in caramel, and sprinkled (liberally) with crushed hazelnuts. You could, of course, add hazelnuts to this recipe too. In fact you can add all sorts of add-ons from hazelnuts to almonds, dried cranberries, walnuts, or even freeze dried strawberries – I definitely encourage taking this recipe and making it your own! Like those fateful caramel pears, this oatmeal features salted caramel, pears, and brown sugar cinnamon. Yum!

There are two ways to make this recipe, dry or creamy. I’ve detailed the creamy recipe in the space below, but to make it dry (like in the image above) you just toast the oatmeal in the pan beforehand, which brings out a more nuttier flavor, and cook it for half the time, with half the wet ingredients. You can add milk or cream post-cooking if you like. I picked up my Quaker® Old Fashioned Oats canister at Target, so it’s big enough to make plenty of breakfasts or snacks with enough left over to experiment with too. They actually have end cap (end of aisle) displays with some oatmeal inspiration, things like nuts and dried fruit are perfect additions to your Quaker® Oats bowl!

The creamy version is a recipe perfected by my mom. It’s simple, but by cooking it longer you get an oatmeal that is seriously to die for. I’m not even kidding, we’ve fought for the last spoonful over here, haha! And if you want an extra special, very rich treat, you can use half and half instead of milk which will give your oats a “special occasion” sort of decadence.

Do you have an amazing or simply delicious oatmeal recipe? It’s time to Bring Your Best Bowl with Quaker® Oats! Quaker® Oats is actually holding this epic National Bring Your Best Bowl Contest where you can enter your favorite oatmeal recipe for a chance to win $250,000! And the top recipe entries will be created and sold in stores in time for this fall! Your oatmeal bowl recipe entries should have between 2-5 ingredients. The Bring Your Best Bowl contest is running from now until March 12^th 2016 – so grab your Quaker® Oats and get cookin’! This contest is for US residents only, you can view contest views and more details by clicking here. Good luck!