Creamy Breakfast Oatmeal (Rice Cooker)

This is from a wonderful book, The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook, by Hensperger and Kaufmann. It makes a wonderful, creamy oatmeal with no watching or muss or fuss. Definitely use steel-cut oats, which have a wonderful texture, so superior to the regular stuff. I usually use dried cranberries, raisins or currants, instead of the dates.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2⁄3 cup steel cut oats
• 1 2⁄3 cups milk
• 1  teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1⁄4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1  pinch fine sea salt
• 2  tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1⁄2 cup  chopped dates

Directions

1. Place all ingredients, except dates, in cooker; stir gently to combine; sprinkle dates on top.
2. Close the cover, set on Porridge cycle.
3. NOTE1: This recipe is designed for a rice cooker with fuzzy logic - use the porridge setting. If you have a regular rice cooker, you will need to watch it to determine when the oatmeal is done, probably 25 to 30 minutes, depending on your cooker.
4. NOTE2: Steel cut oats vary slightly. With some brands I find I need to reduce the milk to 1 1/2 cup to get the right consistency.
5. NOTE3: You can substitute vanilla flavored soy milk for the milk plus vanilla extract.