Approximately three weeks ago, I got home from work and saw one of the most exciting sights a girl can see: a completely unsolicited mystery box from Bob’s Red Mill!!

Even more exciting were the contents:

A full package of steel cut oats (the best kind ever!) and a new tool for my kitchen craziness: a spurtle! What is a spurtle, you ask?

A real, live oatmeal stirrer!!! I have to admit that all my regular wooden spoons have left my possession along with their original owners as a result of my high rate of recent roommate turnover, so I’ve been using a wooden salad spoon to make oatmeal because it’s the only thing that won’t scratch my pots. This spurtle came just in the nick of time!

Along with the oats and spurtle came an enticing recipe for Oregon Orchard Oats Brulee:

I finally had the time and the ingredients to make it last weekend:

Did you notice that half of the oats are darker than the other half? The recipe called for half of the oats to be pre-toasted before cooking, an idea that I found quite intriguing since I had never thought to do that on my own.

I was also thrilled to use my new spurtle for the purpose of crushing coriander seeds, as per the instructions in the recipe.

Crushed! I think I’m in love 😀

In an uncharacteristic move, I continued to follow the instructions in the recipe by melting butter in a pan until it just started to change color …

… and then adding the crushed coriander, followed by diced pears, dried cranberries, and cinnamon. I nixed pretty much all the sugar and just threw in a sprinkle of sugar in the raw.

Once the juices began to “caramelize,” I mixed the pear and friends combo into the cooked oatmeal (side note: I deviated from recipe slightly here by cooking the oats in unsweetened almond milk instead of the heavy cream prescribed!):

(See my fancy spurtle hard at work??)

I divided the mixture into several oven-safe bowls …

… and sprinkled a bit of sugar in the raw (downgraded from the 1/2 cup suggested in the recipe!) over the top of each dish:

I am kitchen torch-less, once again due to roommate turnover, so I threw the bowls into the oven right under the broiler flame:

When the sugar melted and browned, I decided the job was done:

Ohhhhh, yummmmmm! This sight had my taste buds doing a real, live jig:

I was so pumped to devour my “oregon orchard oats brulee” that I knew I needed an equally decadent drizzler. Luckily, I had this can of coconut milk on hand from Edward & Sons, and it was very clearly calling my name from the back of the cabinet:

I whisked the coconut milk with a bit of unsweetened almond milk …

… and went to town!

Ohhhhhh myyyy goodness!

Every single bite of this indulgent breakfast was an exquisite delight for my senses!

Thank you to my best friends at Bob’s Red Mill for introducing me to the joy of the spurtle!

Have you jumped on the spurtle wagon yet?