Gingerbread Baked Oatmeal Cups with Salted Brown Butter Glaze
Cozy gingerbread oatmeal cups baked with plenty of spices, sweet molasses, and rich brown butter. Top these festive gingerbread baked oatmeal cups with an easy, delicious salted brown butter glaze for the ultimate holiday breakfast kiddos will love!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners and then spray generously with nonstick cooking spray.
First, brown your butter: add butter to a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Once melted, the butter will begin to crackle, and then eventually foam. This will take a few minutes. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
Remove 1 tablespoon of the brown butter from the pan and transfer to a small bowl. We’ll use this later for the glaze.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pure maple syrup, molasses, almond milk and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients: oats, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Mix until combined, then stir in diced pears (if using) and the remaining 3 tablespoons of brown butter that has slightly cooled in the pan.
Evenly divide the mixture into the prepared muffin cups. Bake until the edges are slightly golden brown and the center is set, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.
Make the brown butter glaze: In the bowl with the 1 tablespoon of reserved brown butter (make sure it is still liquid and hasn’t solidified but if it is solid just warm in the microwave for 10 seconds or so), add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon milk and stir until well combined. If necessary, add additional milk, ½ teaspoon at a time, to thin out the glaze so you can drizzle it over the oatmeal cups. Drizzle back and forth over the muffin cups, then sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Enjoy with a cup of coffee!
Notes
To make dairy-free: you can use vegan butter or melted coconut oil instead of real butter. However, do not try 'browning' either of those options, as it will not work. For the glaze, I recommend using ¾ cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon dairy-free milk and ¼ teaspoon vanilla then spooning over the cups.To make gluten-free: Be sure to use gluten free rolled oats if you'd like to make this recipe gluten free.See the full post for tips, tricks & freezing instructions!