Slow-Baked Apple & Maple Porridge
A winter morning, perfected — baked apples folded through steel-cut oats with cream, maple and toasted hazelnuts.
There is no more civilised way to begin a cold morning than with a bowl of slow-cooked oats. This version — baked apples folded through steel-cut porridge, finished with cream and maple — is less a recipe than a small act of kindness to yourself.
Make it on a morning with nowhere to be. The kitchen will smell the way a winter morning ought to.
Ingredients
- 4 crisp eating apples (such as Honeycrisp or Cox)
- 1 cup steel-cut oats
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup, plus extra to serve
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- A pinch of fine sea salt
- 40g toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- Double cream, to serve
Method
- 1
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Halve and core the apples, then place cut-side up in a small baking dish. Drizzle with a little maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon. Add a splash of water to the dish and bake for 25–30 minutes, until soft and collapsing.
- 2
While the apples bake, combine the oats, milk, water, cinnamon, vanilla and salt in a heavy-based saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over low heat and cook, stirring often, for 20–25 minutes until thick and creamy.
- 3
When the apples are cool enough to handle, slip off their skins and fold the soft flesh through the porridge. Taste and sweeten further with maple if you like.
- 4
Spoon into warmed bowls, finish with a generous pour of cream, a scattering of toasted hazelnuts and an extra ribbon of maple. Eat slowly.
Steel-cut oats are worth seeking out — their texture is the point. Rolled oats will work in a pinch but lose the slow, satisfying chew that makes this breakfast feel like a ritual rather than a routine.
Breakfast
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