Mocha Cheesecake Oatmeal

I always want type ‘porridge‘ instead of ‘oatmeal‘. Porridge was what I was brought up to call this super-oaty breakfast-y goodness, but with the majority of the world referring to it as oatmeal I’ve started going with the latter name. After all, porridge could refer to rice porridge… which has led to me confusing a friends on a few occasions until I explained that I meant oatmeal.

It still doesn’t stop them looking at me funny when I explain I throw half the contents of the fridge into my oatmeal, though…
Oh well, they’re the ones missing out.

Creamy, chocolatey, coffee flavoured goodness in a bowl!

With the weather not making its mind up whether to be sunny or drizzle, it put me in the mood for breakfast-for-lunch. Oatmeal always hits the spot, and after spotting a recipe for Dark Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake Baked Oatmeal, I decided to make my own twist with a shot of instant coffee. I’m too impatient to give baked oatmeal a go (maybe some other time, when I don’t have 100-and-something episodes of Supernatural to get through) but I compromised with myself and didn’t use the microwave for once.

Chocolate counts as one of my five-a-day, right?

Recipe beneath the cut.

I was also too lazy to use my camera as you might have guessed, so please forgive me for the badly rescued pictures I took with my phone.

Mocha Cheesecake Oatmeal
(serves 1)

• 30g porridge oats
• 200ml milk
• 100ml water (or another 100ml of milk)
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• pinch of salt
• 1-3 tsp sugar or sweetener
• 25g low-fat cream cheese
• 12g dark chocolate, chopped roughly (or dark chocolate chips)

1. In a pan over medium heat, combine the oats, milk, water and instant coffee. Add a pinch of salt, and stir continuously as the porridge cooks until the oats have reached the desired thickness.
2. Sweeten to taste (the more bitter your chocolate, the more sugar you may want to add) then stir in the cream cheese until fully melted.
3. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Fold the chocolate into the oatmeal gently before serving.

Top with a splash of extra milk and some chopped nuts, if you wish. Or just mix it all up and savour the chocolatey goodness.