I woke up this morning to rain and two very ripe bananas on the counter that needed to be used up before they went bad. I’ve recently made banana bread, banana muffins, banana cake, and banana cookies. Looking for another way to use up the bananas, I stumbled across a recipe for baked oatmeal that sounded good. I’ve made baked oatmeal before but never with bananas. I decided to give it a shot.

I’m glad I did because it was excellent—warm and slightly gooey, sweet from the bananas, and satisfyingly stomach-filling. We added a side of bacon and glasses of cold milk and called it brunch. I think I’ll probably be calling it midnight snack, too, and possibly breakfast tomorrow morning.

You’ll notice that in this recipe, I specify that several ingredients should be at room temperature before you use them. That’s true of baking in general, actually. Cookies and cakes and breads turn out lighter and fluffier if you start with milk and eggs and butter that are at room-temperature rather than refrigerator-cold. (Except pastry. That’s a whole different ballgame.) But if you’re like me, you rarely plan ahead far enough to leave those things out on the counter long enough to warm them up. I thought I’d share my oops-I-don’t-have-time-to-wait-an-extra-hour tricks.

Butter: You can, of course, just leave your butter out on the counter till it gets nice and soft if you have time. If you’re in a hurry like I generally am, slice the necessary amount of butter into equal-size pieces and arrange on a plate. Microwave for 10-15 seconds on 50% power. (That part is very important. If you use full power on butter it’ll melt fast, and you don’t want melted butter for your baked goods, you just want soft butter.) If you need to, flip all the pieces of butter over and nuke ‘em for another 10-15 seconds on 50% power. It might have melted a little at this point, but that’s okay. As long as most of the butter is still solid, you’re good. Usually 20-30 seconds on half power is long enough for the butter to get soft enough so you can easily beat it. (Or spread it on toast!)

Eggs: This one’s dead easy. If you have time you can leave the desired number of eggs on the counter for a half-hour, or just put them in a bowl of hot tap water for 10 minutes. Done. I usually try to stick the eggs in hot water when I preheat the oven, and by the time I need them they’ve warmed up.

Milk: Again, easy. Measure your milk out in a Pyrex measuring cup and nuke it for 10-30 seconds, depending on the amount, till it’s lukewarm. I used the same trick for the applesauce in this recipe.

Banana-Apple Baked Oatmeal
Adapted from The Sweets Life
Serves 9-12

Notes: I happened to have heavy cream in the fridge that I need to use up, so I used 1/2 cup skim milk and 1/2 cup cream. You could substitute half-and-half or or 2% or soy/almond/rice milk and it should work just fine. I used 1/2 cup sugar because I have a sweet tooth, but the bananas actually added quite a bit of sweetness and I think I could have cut the sugar in half without noticing a difference. (Or you could even use maple syrup or honey, if you like.) I used a Gala apple because that’s what I had on hand, and left the skin on. You could peel it if you are picky about that sort of thing.

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
• 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup applesauce, room temperature
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup milk, room temperature
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oatmeal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 large apple, cored & diced

Pecan Topping (optional)

• 1/2 cup pecans (halves or chopped)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8″x8″x2″ pan.

In a small bowl, combine oatmeal with baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir well. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla till fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add applesauce and bananas. Mix well.

With stand mixer on low speed, add oatmeal mixture and milk, half at a time. Add apples and stir till combined.

If you want to make the Pecan Topping, stir together the pecans, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle the pecan mixture evenly over the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm.