The original oatmeal enthusiasts were the Scots, who were eating them many centuries ago when their English neighbors were only growing oats as livestock feed.

The groats—the hulled kernels of the cereal—required soaking overnight and cooking for perhaps 30 minutes, so oatmeal was not exactly a convenience breakfast. But modern processing has made it very easy for us to enjoy oatmeal in a minute—and good oatmeal in five to ten minutes.

ROLLED OATS

Rolled oats are what most Americans think of as oatmeal. Quaker Oats’ Old Fashioned Oats have been breakfast fare for generations.

To make rolled oats, the groats are flattened under giant rollers, which makes them easier to cook but removes much of the fiber-filled bran in the process.

There are different types of rolled oats:

The most familiar form of oats are rolled oats, where the groats are rolled flat. Photo by Kelly Cline | IST.

Steel-cut oats, also called cut oats, Irish oats or Scottish oats, and coarse-cut oats, are groats (the whole oat kernel) that have been cut into very small pieces using steel discs. This produces a different result from rolled into flakes.

They are a far better source of fiber than rolled oats, and delightfully chewy (note: baked goods should be made with rolled oats, unless you want a chewy oat bread or muffin).

Cooking time is considerably longer than for rolled oats—30 minutes—but the cooked oatmeal has a nice texture to it—it’s more al dente than rolled oats (and our favorite).

The luxurious texture and longer cooking time imparts more flavor as well. Oatmeal imported from Ireland and Scotland, like McCann’s and Flahavan’s, tends to be steel-cut oats.

Our trick to speedier steel-cut oats: Make a double or triple batch; refrigerate the extra portions and microwave them for “one-minute steel-cut oats.”

 
The Health Benefits Of Oatmeal
 
Oatmeal Serving Suggestions

The Bar at Clement in The Peninsula New York has whipped up this beautiful cocktail for Halloween or Thanksgiving. It’s called the “Drunken Pumpkin Pie”; but since there’s no pumpkin in the recipe, you may wish to give it another name. The flavor is creamy coffee with cinnamon accents—still spot on for the season.

(Mixologists take note: If the pie has no pumpkin, you can’t call it pumpkin pie.)

More intrigue: The only way to order the cocktail is to be “in the know.” It’s a seasonal special and not on the menu. So here’s the recipe to enjoy at home, in a Martini glass or as shots:

HALLOWEEN OR THANKSGIVING COCKTAIL

Ingredients For 1 Drink

1. CRUSH graham crackers on a paper towel with a rolling pin (or use graham cracker crumbs). Mix with a few dashes of cinnamon and/or nutmeg in a shallow dish.

2. MOISTEN the rim of the the glass and twist in the crumbs to rim the glass with the cinnamon-graham cracker “crust.”

3. SHAKE cocktail ingredients with ice, and strain into glass.

Dress up your dogs in a fancy coat! To nourish the young’uns prior to trick-or-treating, or for an everyday family meal, a roll-up makes a hot dog look elegant.

A hot dog in a a standard bun may be delicious, but The Bison Council showed us true hot dog glamor, by wrapping the dog (here, a lower fat but equally delicious bison hot dog) in a refrigerated crescent roll. The result: fun food.

This bison dog is snuggled in cheesy honey-mustard blanket under its wrap. But you can fill the wrap with anything you like—corn kernels, pickles, relish, sauerkraut, whatever. Prep time is 15 minutes, cook time 12 minutes.

Find more delicious recipes at TheBisonCouncil.com.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
*You can make honey mustard by mixing honey into Dijon or other mustard, to taste (try 1 tablespoon honey to 2 tablespoons mustard). You can also make a low-glycemic version with agave or artificial sweetener.
 

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of cornmeal on a baking sheet. Unroll crescent rolls and place on top of cornmeal. Spread each crescent with 1 teaspoon of the honey mustard and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the cornmeal.

2. TOP each crescent with 1/2 slice of cheese and place a bison dog at the wide end. Roll up the crescents around the bison dogs.

3. PLACE roll-ups, seam sides down, on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle rolls with remaining cornmeal. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crescents are golden.

4. COMBINE remaining honey mustard and mayonnaise in a small bowl; serve with roll-ups. Instead of the mustard-mayonnaise dip, you can dip into ketchup, salsa or other favorite condiment.
 
MORE ABOUT BISON, THE BEST RED MEAT ON EARTH.

What should you do when you’re downsized from your job?

Enter the TV reality show, “Supermarket Superstar,” with your family recipe: a cheesecake ice cream sandwich called Smoogy.

That’s what happened to Tekisha Collins. The dream came true: she won. The prize is a distribution deal, and Smoogy cheesecake cookie ice cream sandwiches are now available at A&P, The Food Emporium, Food Basics, Pathmark, Superfresh and Waldbaums.

We’ve become extremely fond of the Chocolate Fudge Smoogy, chocolate-cheesecake ice cream sandwiched between chocolate chip cookies.

But the young brand needs more than a distribution deal: It needs good marketing consulting. Is it an ice cream sandwich, a frozen cheesecake cookie? Collins calls it “the first and only cake in a cookie that you eat frozen.”

Huh? Where’s the cake?

And what would you call a frozen cookie sandwich with a cheesecake-like filling?

Hopefully, marketing help will come—and redo the packaging and marketing materials as well. We wish Smoogy all the luck in the world.

Read the full review.

The recipe below, from Kraft, consists of a pumpkin cake “sandwich? filled with ginger-cinnamon cream. The glamor comes from rolling the cream edges in seasonally themed sprinkles like these (or for an edgy whoopie pie, these skull sprinkles).

For Thanksgiving, try these pretty fall leaves sprinkles or these autumn mix sprinkles.

The cakes can be made ahead of time, baked and frozen for up to 2 weeks. When freezing, place in single layer in pan to prevent them from sticking together. Thaw completely before using them to assemble the whoopie pies.

Ingredients

1. HEAT oven to 350°F.

2. BEAT first 7 ingredients with mixer until well blended. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Scoop into 32 mounds, using about 2 tablespoons for each on the sheet, placing them 3 inches apart. You can use a small ice cream scoop to quickly portion the scoops of dough onto the baking sheet.

3. BAKE 12 to 14 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

4. BEAT cream cheese, marshmallow cream, ginger and cinnamon in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Whisk in whipped topping. Spread 3 tablespoons onto flat side of 1 cake; top with second cake, flat-side down. Roll edge in sprinkles. Repeat with remaining cakes. Keep refrigerated.

WHY IS A WHOOPIE CALLED A “PIE?”

A whoopie pie is technically a sandwich cookie, but the cookies have a cake consistency. Yet it’s called neither cookie nor cake, but pie.

Clearly, a whoopie is no pie: A pie comprises a pastry crust with a filling.

Yet a Boston Creme Pie is two layers of sponge cake filled with vanilla custard and glazed with chocolate. A cheesecake contains no cake; it’s a cheese custard pie. Misnomers exist.

According to food historians, these Amish-baked desserts, possibly made from leftover cake batter, where originally known as hucklebucks, or creamy turtles. As the legend goes, one farmer who opened his lunch pail to find the treat shouted “Whoopie!” and the name stuck.

Whoopies are made in many flavor these days, but the original consisted of two wee chocolate cake “layers” with a creamy vanilla frosting between them.

Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania all claim to be the birthplace of the whoopie pie.

 
Whoopie!