chocolate breakfast cereal

Chocolate Breakfast Cereal

chocolate breakfast cereal

Todays story is about a chocolate laden, seed, coconut and nut filled – not so sweet –  breakfast cereal.

This same cereal might just as easily be an afternoon snack or a sprinkle for ice-cream.  Sometimes in the depth of winter (and possibly even on a bright summer morning) we need the comfort of something that seems richer, brighter and a little naughtier. it maybe brings reminders of childhood coco pops, but just as importantly, something that will sustain us through the morning.  Knowing we all start the day with different food needs and rituals, in recent times I have become a fan of something with loads of seeds and nuts (aka My Daily Bread). This cereal offers a chance for me to change it up but still enjoy that nutty goodness.

In the process of experimenting with this, I was excited to finally tried and have success with the crazy concoction called aquafaba.  This is chickpea water beaten to form a foam similar to that of beaten egg whites.  I have seen it using canned chickpeas but as I love to cook my own chickpeas I hadn’t been sure if the technique would transfer, happily it did.

My method, as always, was to soak my chickpeas overnight and rinse and drain them. I then cooked the chickpeas in lightly salted water – making sure that by the end of the cooking they were just covered in water.  I drained the chickpeas and cooled the liquid before beating.  I managed to get my aquafaba to a soft peak before beating in the sweetener and vanilla.  The purpose of the aquafaba was to help make the cereal clump up a bit.  All this excitement aside, you could use a couple of egg whites whipped to a foam instead.aquafaba

Today I have activated my seeds – soaking them in slightly salted water and draining them before drying – you can buy activated seeds and nuts or skip this step.  My only caution is that if you do activate them remember to rinse them well and they may still be slightly salty, so taste before adding the salt in the recipe

CHOCOLATE BREAKFAST CEREAL

PRE HEAT OVEN TO 120’C

Ingredients

  • 2 cups quinoa puffs (you could use rice bubbles or other puffed cereal)
  • 2 cups buckwheat groats
  • 1/2 cup hazelnuts
  • 1 cup of sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup cocoa nibs
  • 1 cup slivered coconut
  • 5 Tablespoons cocoa or dark cocoa
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup maple syrup or coconut nectar. Taste and decide before you bake.
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1/2 cup aquafaba, or two beaten egg whites.
  • 1/2 tsp salt (check your seeds and nuts if activated in case they have residual saltiness)
  • Optional pinch of cinnamon or five spice powder

Using two medium size bowls

Bowl 1 add Hazelnuts, sunflower seeds and the other half of the cocoa.

Bowl 2 add quinoa puffs, buckwheat groats, coconut, cocoa nibs and chia seeds with half the cocoa.

Beat your chickpea water or egg whites until you have a semi stiff foam – (this will take about five minutes for the chickpea liquid), then add to it the syrup and vanilla.

Pour 2/3rds over the first bowl and 1/3 over the second bowl and spend some time gently mixing these together. Test now and add the salt if desired.

Spread these mixes onto two seperate trays and press them down to clump together a bit.chocolate breakfast cereal

Put the 1st tray (hazelnuts and sunflower seeds) in the oven to cook for 15 minutes, before adding the second tray and cooking for a further 15 minutes.

Check that everything is nicely toasted – if your oven is a bit cooler they may need a few more minutes.chocolate breakfast cereal

Allow to cool and then store in airtight containers

chocolate breakfast cereal

For this jar of deliciousness I layered blueberries, grated apple, yoghurt and cereal into a jar and then poured orange juice over top.  I then refrigerated this overnight ready to go in the morning, but you could eat it straight up – either way it was DELICIOUS.

 

chocolate breakfast cereal

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