I am always looking for ways to make oatmeal more interesting, and I’ve got another strong lead. I’m a big fan of boiling oats in strong tea or bulking them up with a steaming bounty of sausage and pickles, but the colder, lazier overnight oats need a little love too. Use yesterday’s coffee or cold brew to put a little shimmy into your breakfast routine.
This is one of my favorite ways to repurpose any morning coffee I have leftover in the carafe. It’s not technically cold brew, but any kind of cold coffee will work. I often buy embarrassingly expensive coffee beans (it’s how I treat myself), so dumping unused coffee down the drain is not an option. Instead of wasting it, I pour it over some oats (along with a few other goodies), and pop it in the fridge.
Overnight oats are made by mixing rolled oats with an equal water or milk; all you have to do to make cold brew oats is replace the liquid component with an equal amount of cold brew or leftover coffee. (You can adjust the ratio if you prefer a looser or stiffer oatmeal.)
If you’d like to add yogurt, extracts, honey, sugar, or spices, now is the time. Lately I’ve been enjoying peanut butter powder and honey in mine. It tastes fantastic. The coffee is intense, but the nut butter stands up to it well, so you taste the coffee in the foreground with a peanut buttery finish. I don’t know if it was the particular cold brew brand I bought, or if I just woke up on the right side of the bed, but my most recent batch had me tearing through all of my errands very energetically. (I may have scared some neighborhood children.)
Coffee is a lot like wine when it comes to additional ingredient pairings, so consider flavors that match. Check the packaging for flavor descriptions, and try mixing in cocoa powder, chocolate chips, maple syrup, toffee bits, baking spices, coconut flakes, chopped nuts, cherries, or dark berries. Once you’ve added all your components, give the mixture a stir and cover it. Pop this in the fridge for at least five hours and up to five days.
Coffee and Peanut Butter Overnight Oats
Ingredients:
½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats½ cup cold black coffee1 tablespoon peanut powder1 tablespoon honey1 tablespoon plain greek yogurtPinch saltMix all of the ingredients together in a sealable container until everything is well incorporated. Cover with a lid and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Mix it again before eating.
