Blueberry Oatmeal Flummery

I am not the biggest blueberry fan, but lately they have been mighty scrumptious looking at the store and online: VeganYumYum's Blueberry Grunt and Fatfree Vegan's Blueberry-Oat Bars have been floating around my brain, as has this article about flummery in the New York Times. So I decided to succumb to the blueberry pain and this weekend I whipped together a Blueberry Oatmeal Flummery, flummery being a fancy British word for pie filling eaten sans crust. Leave it to the Brits...

I was going to make this the traditional way, but I had some oatmeal hanging out from two roommates ago. Figuring this would be a good way to finally get rid of it, I decided to throw it in the mix. The result was very good fresh out of the oven, especially with some unsweetened vanilla rice milk poured over top. Unlike most flummery, however, which is even better when it's chilled--this turned into a rubbery mess after a night in the fridge. So you should either eat it right away or eliminate the oatmeal part if you want to keep it around for a while. Bon appetit!

Blueberry Oatmeal Flummery
(modified from this recipe at Fat Free Vegan--I basically halved the oatmeal part and folded it into the blueberries instead of layering them)

1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsps cornstarch, mixed with enough water to make a paste

1 1/2 cups regular (not instant) oatmeal
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsps. agave nectar
3 tbsps. water
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Oil an 8x8 baking pan.

In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, agave nectar, and juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, stir in the vanilla and the cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir as the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put 1 1/2 cups of the oatmeal into a blender and grind it to a fine powder. Pour it into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add the remaining oatmeal, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the apple sauce, agave nectar, water, and vanilla, and mix well.

Fold oatmeal mix into the blueberries. Put new mixture into the oiled baking dish. Bake 5-8 minutes or until oatmeal has softened. Serve warm with rice milk or soy creamer.