Need to sweeten my oats?

I like adding vanilla extract (*real* vanilla extract) and baking spices... I have the "five spice" mix you'd use for pumpkin pie or whatever... I find my steel-cut oats don't need anything when I've used these. However, if you can develop a taste for it (I kind of have, though I don't love it), blackstrap molasses add a terrific hit of iron with some sweetness. It's a really strong taste for early in the morning, though - the only strong flavor I love then is coffee - but in cold weather I like a hot breakfast instead of my usual yogurt, and I feel like I ought to get a hit of nutrients even if I'm eating a good carb, so I put the molasses on it.

Since I started adding cinnamon to my oats, I've discovered I don't need nearly as much sugar to taste good to me. For my regular serving (1/2 cup before cooking), I add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of raw sugar. That's quite a bit less than 2 tablespoons, and yet it tastes plenty sweet. The cinnamon seems to bring out the sweetness somehow. Now I'm all excited for breakfast tomorrow!

I cook my porridge (oatmeal) with 2/3 cup water, 1/3 cup skim milk and add a chopped up pear or apple for the last 30 seconds.
Then a sprinkle of cinnamon on top - yum!
The pear makes it sweeter than apple.