As you may have guessed from my short-lived overnight oats series, I’m somewhat of an oat devotee. (But please don’t get me started on the difficulties of photographing your breakfast before work, on an incredibly dull English morning, that wasn’t one of my best ideas!) I’ve read about baked porridge so many times that I felt it was about time I tried it. The idea of cooking up a big batch and saving myself a job for a few mornings a week really appealed, as did the fact that it resembles a good old crumble!

I’m on a bit of a healthy eating, low processed sugar, kick at the moment, so I thought the place to turn, to get the basic recipe down had to be Deliciously Ella. I knew she could be trusted to not sneak in a stack of brown sugar or a slug of unnecessary maple syrup.

This baked porridge is sweetened with apples alone, Ella adds raisins to hers, but I couldn’t resist popping in a few baby figs instead. I’m not a huge pecan fan and I don’t really like crunchy bits in my porridge, so instead I added ground almonds for a bit of nutty goodness, giving it a slight frangipane vibe.

This porridge is comfortingly spicy, slightly crispy on the top and will keep you going for hours. It would make the perfect easy and healthy brunch or, like me, you can keep it all to yourself and just eat the left overs cold for a few days, saving yourself a bit of stirring over a hot stove!

Spiced Apple & Fig Baked Porridge
Adapted from Deliciously Ella for the Telegraph
Serves 4

Ingredients:
150g organic oats
450ml boiling water
3 apples
300ml almond milk
1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
75g ground almonds
3 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp ginger
A handful of baby figs, halved (or larger figs chopped)

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Put the oats into a large bowl with the boiling water and allow to sit for 10 minutes while you peel, core and chop the apples.

Add the apples, milk, coconut oil, ground almonds, cinnamon and ginger to the oats, mix well and put the mixture into a pie dish or baking dish. Arrange the figs over the top and pop the dish into the oven for 25 minutes until nicely browned on top. Enjoy!