Cinnamon Oatmeal
Simple, creamy oatmeal with a cinnamon stick steeped right into the water. Loose and comforting, and made for a table full of toppings: berries, maple syrup, coconut, nuts, and raisins.
Ingredients
Steps
Add the water and cinnamon stick to a medium pot. Bring to a gentle boil and let the cinnamon steep for a few minutes so it flavors the water before the oats go in.
Stir in the oats and salt. Bring back to a simmer, then lower the heat so it bubbles gently rather than boils over.
Simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes so nothing sticks, until the oats are tender and the porridge is creamy. Add a splash of water if it gets thicker than you like.
Fish out the cinnamon stick. Take the pot off the heat and let it rest, covered, so it settles and thickens a little more.
Spoon into bowls and set out the toppings: strawberries, blueberries, maple syrup or brown sugar, desiccated coconut, nuts, and raisins. Let everyone build their own.
Notes
Steep the cinnamon first
The one small move that lifts this above ordinary oatmeal is treating the cinnamon stick like a tea. Simmering it in the plain water for a few minutes before the oats go in pulls the flavor out of the bark, so it runs through the whole pot instead of sitting on top. A whole stick does this far better than ground cinnamon stirred in at the end.
Texture
Four cups of water to one cup of rolled oats makes a loose, creamy porridge, not a stiff scoop. If you like it thicker, use a little less water or let it rest longer off the heat.