Chocolate Cinnamon Overnight Oats

Hugging the Angel Oak in Charleston

Spring and summer have been fun and full of travel, as well as cooking from lots of cookbooks and issues of Bon Appetit. One book that we keep rechecking out has been, surprisingly, Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Easy, which sadly needs to return home to the library for a bit. She has a recipe for overnight oats that have become a staple in our house, so I decided that I need to write down my modified version of the recipe so I don’t forget it, because that would be tragic.

Also, these oats aren’t pretty. Hence the picture of a tree instead. Trees are prettier than (delicious) brown sludge. Gwyneth clearly agrees, because she doesn’t have a picture for them either.

Chocolate Cinnamon Overnight Oats

Serves 1

This recipe makes for rather liquid heavy oats, which is how we like them. Feel free to increase the amount of chia seeds and/or decrease the amount of milk to your preference. A handful of berries thrown on top before serving is fantastic.

• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp raw cacao or cocoa powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup rice or almond milk (we use organic Rice Dream in the original flavor, which is lightly sweetened)
• 2 dates, pitted and cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp chia seeds

Combine everything into a bowl or, ideally, a mason jar and mix VERY well. The mason jar is easy to put on the lid and shake.

Cover and leave to soak overnight. Serve cold. Her note says that you can make them up to two days ahead of time, but we’ve never tried.