Name: Apple Oat Breakfast Bake with Brown Sugar
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 26 min
Total time: 41 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, melted and cooled slightly); 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar; 1 large egg (room temperature); 1 tsp pure vanilla extract; 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled); 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant); 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp fine salt; 1 1/2 cups firm baking apple (peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks, about 1 large apple such as Honeycrisp or Braeburn); 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional); 2 scoops vanilla ice cream (for serving)

From the roundup: 24 Apple Dessert Recipes for Fall You Will Want to Bake All Season

Jump to Recipe

This apple oat breakfast bake is really a giant skillet cookie, and I want to be upfront about that. It is not a casserole, not a crumble, not baked oatmeal. It is thick, chewy, and packed with cinnamon-spiced apple chunks, and it bakes in a cast iron skillet so you cut it into wedges right at the table. My kids will eat it for dessert with ice cream on top, and I will eat the leftover wedge cold over the sink at 7 a.m. and call it breakfast.

Active time is about 15 minutes, mostly just melting butter and chopping one apple. The oven does the rest. The one thing I will warn you about: pull it at 22 to 24 minutes even if the center looks underdone. I overbaked mine the first time waiting for it to look set all the way through, and it came out dry and crumbly instead of soft and gooey. The cast iron keeps cooking it after you pull it from the oven, so trust the process and let it rest.

Why you will love this

One bowl, one skillet, no mixer required, the dough comes together with a whisk and a spatula
Fresh apple chunks keep the inside moist even after a day or two in the fridge
The cast iron gives you crisp, deep golden edges with a soft center you cannot get from a regular baking dish
Done start to finish in 41 minutes, which is faster than most crisps or cobblers
Serves 8 in wedges straight from the pan, so there is nothing extra to wash

Tips for success

Use old-fashioned rolled oats, not instant. Instant oats absorb moisture too fast and the texture turns pasty instead of chewy.
Let your melted butter cool for a few minutes before adding the egg. If the butter is too hot it will scramble the egg and you will have to start over.
Pull the skillet at 22 to 26 minutes when the edges are deep golden and the top looks matte and dry. The center will look slightly underdone, and that is correct. Rest it on a wire rack for 5 minutes and the residual heat from the cast iron will finish the job.
Press the dough all the way to the edges of the skillet so it bakes evenly. If you leave a thick mound in the center it will be raw in the middle while the edges overbake.

Common questions

Can I use a different pan? A 10-inch oven-safe skillet works, but cast iron gives the best edge. A 9-inch round cake pan can work in a pinch, though the edges won’t get as crisp.
Which apple is best? Honeycrisp and Braeburn hold their shape and don’t turn mushy. Avoid Fuji or Red Delicious, they go soft and watery.
Can I skip the pecans? Yes, they are fully optional. The bake is plenty good without them, and leaving them out makes it nut-free for school lunches.
Do I have to serve it with ice cream? No, but the contrast of warm cookie and cold ice cream is the whole point for dessert. A drizzle of heavy cream works too.

Substitutions

The pecans are easy to leave out or swap for walnuts or raisins without changing anything else. For a gluten-free version, a 1-to-1 gluten-free all-purpose flour blend works well here. Coconut oil can replace the butter in equal measure if needed, though the flavor will be a little different. Brown sugar can be swapped for coconut sugar, though the color of the finished bake will be slightly darker.

If someone in your house cannot do dairy, skip the ice cream and serve it with a drizzle of maple syrup or a scoop of coconut milk ice cream instead. The bake itself has no dairy beyond the butter, so that swap covers it.

Make-ahead and storage

You can mix the dry ingredients and store them in a sealed bag up to 3 days ahead. Wait to dice the apple until just before you mix and bake, otherwise it browns and gets soggy sitting in the dough. The whole thing comes together so fast that make-ahead prep beyond that is not really necessary.

Cover the cooled skillet with foil or transfer leftovers to an airtight container. They keep at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To reheat, warm individual wedges in a 300 degree oven for about 8 minutes, or microwave for 20 to 30 seconds. I would not freeze this one. The apple chunks hold too much moisture and the texture gets gummy once it thaws.

Brittany Stage