"Best Ever" Baked Oatmeal - How Sweet Eats | Easy Breakfast Recipe

Hi lovely reader! I wanted to share an easy breakfast recipe that I found on Instagram by Jessica Merchant of @howsweeteats . It's delicious (tastes like a dessert), simple, and a great make ahead breakfast option for mornings on the go (or when you can't be bothered to actually make something...hello microwave). I have copied the recipe below but you can also find it on Jessica's blog "How Sweet Eats" .

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups quick oats
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups milk whatever you like! dairy or nondairy
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup flaked coconut toasted if you've like!
• 2 tablespoons hemp hearts
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• milk or cream for drizzling (I like to pair mine with vanilla or coconut greek yogurt)

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Pour the mixture in the dish.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and set. Remove the dish from the oven and place the chocolate chips on top right away (so they kind of melt!). Top with the coconut, almonds, hemp hearts and chia seeds. Let cool slightly, then cut into squares and serve with a drizzle of milk or cream.
• *After the dish has cooled completely, I cut them into squares, wrap in cling wrap individually to help keep them fresh, and put them in a ziplock bag to freeze. Then in the morning you can just grab a square and microwave it for a minute or two!

Spooky Sweet Treats | Pumpkin Shaped Sugar Cookies

Hi lovely reader! Happy Hallo-weekend! Fall is in full swing here, the leaves have changed colors and the temperatures are starting to drop. I wore my first heavy coat today and am ready for sweater weather! Today I wanted to share a fun and festive treat with you that is a Halloween tradition for me. My mom and I have baked these cute pumpkin cookies for as long as I can remember. They are super simple, quick, and fun to decorate. Perfect for a last minute addition to an upcoming Halloween party or special treat for yourself or trick or treaters!

Note that this recipe makes vanilla sugar cookies, they are pumpkin shaped, not pumpkin flavored:)

You will need:
-1 cup of butter
-1 cup of sugar
-1 large egg
-2 teaspoons of baking powder
-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
-3 cups of flower
-pumpkin mold tray or pumpkin shaped cookie cutters
-Orange food coloring (optional)
-Cooking spray
-Icing, sugar, or candy to decorate your pumpkins

First preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, cream your butter and sugar with an electric mixer and then beat in the vanilla. 

After that add the baking powder and then the flour, one cup at a time, mixing after each cup. Once you have added the flour, the dough will become stiff and is ready to be shaped into the molds or rolled out if you are using a cookie cutter. Be sure to grease your molds with cooking spray before placing the dough in them. You can also knead food coloring into your dough at this point if you want to make your pumpkins orange. 

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes (mine tend to be done closer to 10 min), cool, and remove from the pan. Then repeat the process, being sure to grease your pans each time. 

After the cookies have completely cooled, you are ready to decorate. This year I used an orange icing pen for the eyes, nose, and mouth and then poured yellow sugar over them to give a glowing sparkly effect. I then used chocolate icing and green sugar for the stem.

Enjoy!

Do you have any favorite Halloween treats? Xx