Saturday 23 February 2013

Building Up Breakfast

Fiocchi d'Avena al Cioccolato a Strati con Banana e Cocco Croccante
Layered Chocolate Oatmeal, Banana & Coconut Crunch


Yes, of course you all know by now how much I love oatmeal... and banana... and that I only ever get around to enjoying it at the weekend- sadly! So this morning, I decided to get a little bit playful with my favorite combination and to add some chocolate (or cocoa) and coconut into the mix... and to have even more fun by building it up in layers as one might a dessert. And quite frankly- the result was that yummy that I can really imagine serving this up after dinner in a smaller portion- it is pretty filling! But it is also very healthy in this version as you will soon see... so it is a guilt-free treat all the same!

This was a great warm breakfast, for a cold and snowy Frankfurt morning- but I can imagine it tasting equally good cold and refrigerated in the Spring and summer months. The cool thing is that it doesn't take any longer to prepare than a bowl of "boring" oatmeal and that you can improvise with some other fruits or berries. It is the crispy coconut/oatmeal flakes in-between layers that make it so much fun- especially with the chocolate flavor! You're going to love it!


I prepared the oatmeal in the usual manner, simmering it gently with milk (I used skimmed) and a little cinnamon... only this time I added a generous couple of tablespoons of cocoa per serving. I sweetened mine with Stevia- you know the score by now, you can use sugar or honey, yadda, yadda... all I know is I like the idea of totally guilt-free a lot!

Whilst the oatmeal bubbles away, in a dry frying pan, start to toast a mix of coconut flakes and oatmeal- I had about 2 parts coconut to 1 part oatmeal. Here comes the strange part... when the coconut begins to brown slightly, add a splash of water and a very light drizzle of honey and stir it in very quickly. Fear not- I mean just a small amount- basically to dilute the small amount of honey and get it equally distributed all over the oatmeal and coconut flakes... and I am talking about maybe 1 teaspoon of honey max and 2-3 of water! What will happen, is that the flakes will begin to clump together a little and this is when they begin to get really nice. The initial moisture from the water soon evaporates away, but by then it will have done its job and you will have nice, crispy chunks of very slightly sweetened coconut- perfect in contrast to the fresh banana and the hot, creamy oatmeal!

So now you can spoon together your alternating layers of fresh banana, crispy flakes, hot and steamy oatmeal and so on... you will love the combination when you dig into it! Easy, fun- and the way I made it- even healthy! So get stuck in ladies, gentlemen and little people- and enjoy!

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