Overnight French Toast Oatmeal Bake with Crumble Topping

So I am super excited to share this recipe! It exceeded my expectations of goodness :) ! 

I have always been a big fan of two things for breakfast: oatmeal and french toast. The other morning I was craving both, so I thought, hey! why not combine the two?! Such an ingenious thought :). I started off making my french toast oatmeal just as regular oatmeal with eggs cooked in it  i.e. cooked in 5 minutes. However, then I got thinking about an overnight version because I am all about overnight oatmeal/bread bakes. I think they are delicious and it was about time to create my own! 

I tried this twice and both times the top was kind of burnt, but then I discovered that the burnt part can be easily scraped off and underneath is the golden treasure! 

The texture turned out really interesting. It wasn't oatmeal and it wasn't bread-it was a mix. I was interested to taste however that it was more on the bready side. The first time I tried this I thought, "wow, that's cool, I just invented a new food: oatmeal bread". I don't know how to describe it, you'll just have to try it for yourselves! The "french toast" taste comes from the egg whites used in the oatmeal bread.

As much as I loved the texture, I thought it needed a little crunch to top it off, so I quickly whipped up a crumble topping made with oats while the oatmeal bread was cooling off a little.

Wow, I cannot describe to you how fantastic this is! The gooey oatmeal bread with a crunchy golden topping and a drizzle of honey...now that's a breakfast! I even poured some rice milk over mine to make it more like a bread pudding. The milk really does the trick! It balances the sweetness of the honey really well, so that you won't get a sugar-coma.

French Toast Oatmeal with milk

Even my brother-in-law, who hates soggy food so much that he eats cereal dry, gave this breakfast two thumbs up!!

Overnight French Toast Oatmeal Bake w/ Crumble Topping

(gluten, dairy, soy, nut, coconut, refined-sugar free)

Serves: about 6

Overnight Oatmeal

            3 cups oats (not instant!)

            3 cups milk of choice

            6 egg whites

            1 Tbsp. cinnamon

            dash salt

            2 Tbsp. honey

Crumble Topping

            1 cup oats (not instant)

            2 Tbsp. ground flax

            dash salt

            1/2 -1 Tbsp. cinnamon

            2-3 Tbsp. honey (depending on sweetness of tooth)

            2 Tbsp. milk of choice

Directions:

1.     Before you go to bed mix all of the ingredients for the overnight oatmeal in a crockpot. Cover and turn the crockpot to the lowest setting for no longer than 8 hours.

2.     In the morning scrape the burnt part off with a large spoon. Discard the burnt part.

3.     Cut the oatmeal bread into roughly 6 squares and transfer to a plate.

4.     While the oatmeal bread cools, make the crumble topping by combing the oats, ground flax, salt, and cinnamon. Add the honey and milk and stir until well combined. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and spread the oat mixture on top, evenly. Broil in an oven or small toaster oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until golden and crunchy (watch it closely so it doesn’t burn-you may have to take it in and out several times until it reaches the desired consistency.)

5.     Top the oatmeal bread with the crumble topping, a drizzle of honey, and milk of your choice, if desired.

Enjoy!

Shared on Simply Sugar and Gluten Free and The Tasty Alternative