orange-date breakfast bake

Tonight’s guest post comes from Jess @ Healthy Exposures. Jess is an amazing photographer and artist whom I absolutely adore. See that header up top? Designed by the one and only Jess! She is a great friend and her pictures always make me drool. You’re going to LOVE her!!!

Hey guys! I’m Jess from Healthy Exposures. I’m so excited to be partaking in Chelsey’s guest post series today. She’s not only someone I can seek out for a good recipe or review, but a great laugh, too!

I think it goes without saying that there seems to be something in a food-blogger’s water that makes us all breakfast fiends.

I am no different. The day I go without breakfast will be the day the world stops turning. Just writing this post I’m already dreaming up tomorrow’s breakfast!

Now, if only tomorrow morning could get here sooner…

However - one other thing about me? I go through “phases” (read: obsessions) like my family goes through silverware. Why is it that forks, knives and spoons are all the first things to fill the dishwasher?

But that all is besides the point. What my point is, is that there is a whole world of breakfast options out there. Sure, apple jacks and Dunkin’ Donuts blueberry muffins are good in high school and all, but I like to think my tastes have..er..evolved…since those days.

Like many, I started my foray into blogging with oatmeal. Every day. Nonstop. No other ideas necessary, I wanted oats and only you and what-army were going to stop me.

Uh, okay, or maybe just a power outage.

I kid you not - I didn’t realize there was a world outside of oatmeal until a morning I lost power and couldn’t make it.

And then I was unstoppable.

So, what was my first obsession?

Waffles.

I was so dedicated to waffle making I could have given iHop a run for their money.

There were strawberry waffles. There were blueberry waffles. There were dinner waffles. There were falafelwaffles. There were carrot cake waffles, there were sweet potato waffles and there were buckwheat waffles.

I was so obsessed with waffling that I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d have found myself waffleizing my hair to get the crimp look that was ever-so-abundant in the 80’s.

But eventually, I moved on. I had bigger fish to fry.

Or, maybe I should say I had better pancakes to fry.

Yes, I moved on to pancakes.

In sandwich form. In carrot cake form. In gingerbread form. In yogurt form. Leftover shredded wheat form, even! In just-about-every-form-you-can-think-of.

Once again, though, I moved on.

To scrambles.

To flaxy french toasts…

…and onto still more obsessions, too.

And so where am I now?

Well, now I’m all about “the bake.”

While my all-time favorite is probably the above-shown coffeehouse hermit, I did not stop at one. “The bake” is a wonderful mix between a muffin and a baked oatmeal. It’s not gooey on the inside like a traditional baked oatmeal, because, well…it’s not really oatmeal..but rather a bit more like a moist muffin. Basically, heaven in a ramekin if there ever were such a thing.

While I’ve already pounded the idea of bakes into the ground, who would I be to not bring yet another version to all you lovely people?

This bake is the combination of some of my all-time favorite flavors: dates and oranges. Inspired by my own orange-date cookies, I knew instantly when making them the other day that I had to make them into a breakfast bake form. And so, the Orange-Date Breakfast Bake was born.

Orange-Date Breakfast Bake

● ¼ c. old fashioned rolled oats

● 2 T. oat bran

● 2 T. white whole wheat flour

● ½ t. baking powder

● 1 t. ground cinnamon

● ¼ t. ground nutmeg

● ½ a medium banana, mashed very well

● 1 t. date molasses (or other sweetener, optional)

● one orange - you will need the zest and the juice!

● 1 or 2 large Medjool dates, chopped

● ¼ c. milk (I used cashew!)

First, preheat your oven to 400*.

Combine your dry ingredients - the rolled oats, oat bran, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest and chopped dates - in a medium sized mixing bowl.

In a separate, small bowl, combine the mashed banana, date molasses, juice of the orange and milk.

Add the wet to the dry, mix until combined, and then transfer to a greased or sprayed single-serve ramekin. Smooth the top a bit and bake for 30 minutes.

And what goes better with dates and oranges than cashews?

Nothing, my friends.

And so naturally, I chose to top this bake with a simplified cashew cream. Simply mix a tablespoon of cashew butter with a tablespoon or so of milk. I accidentally added too much milk this time, but no big deal - just add some chia seeds to thicken it up a bit!

So, now it’s your turn!

What’s your favorite thing to have for breakfast?

Do you tend to go through phases, or do you try to have something new every day?

Tagged as: breakfast, breakfast bake, food obsessions, guest post, Healthy Exposure, Jess @ Healthy Exposures