Baked 'Bakewell' Pie.... New favourite easy festive 'bressert'!

I have found my new Christmas breakfast for this year!  Or more accurately 'bressert' - when  dish i heathy enough for breakfast but indulgent enough for dessert!

It's a spin on my equally wonderful classic Christmas baked oats from over 4 years ago now (wow time flies!) and it's the new recipe I'll be making for my family on Christmas morning. 

This year we are spending Christmas Day at my brother and his girlfriend's house in Winchester, and knowing they both love 'Bakewell Tart' flavours I was inspired to create a breakfast in their honour. The mini bliss balls pressed into the top are added indulgence as I had some mix in my fridge from the recent workshop I ran (more workshops in the New Year if you want to come!) but you could omit these or simply use marzipan and roll into balls if you have that to hand! Or you could use Bakewell Nakd bars chopped up, ha ha (not a sponsored link!) I will say the balls do make an incredible addition to this breakfast so add them if you can.

The three big things I love about baked oatmeals are...

1. They literally take minutes to mix up in one bowl and you can just as easily make breakfast for two or eight by just changing at the quantities (and the size of the baking dish)

2. There are almost endless flavour combinations (I have loads on my blog already)

3. They are healthy enough for breakfast but indulgent enough for dessert!

The bliss ball recipe I used is available here in my newly launched 'The Ultimate Bliss Ball Recipe Guide'. It has 20 recipes AND loads of alternative options for each so the ideas really are limitless... this guide will be a great addition to a January health kick too!  I made the book as a 'printable layout' so you can print and cut the cards up to give as gifts with a recipe you've made.  

It's the little things that make me happy! :-)

Now, back to the Bakewell Pie recipe...

Recipe: Baked 'Bakewell' Pie

Serves 2 (could just as easily be doubled or tripled....)

Ingredients: 

• 3/4 cup porridge oats

• 1 1/2 cup non dairy milk

• 1/2 cup flaked almonds

• 1 tbs ground flax seed or chia seed

• 1/2 tsp almond extract

• 1/2 cup roughly crumbled frozen raspberries*

• bliss balls or marzipan balls (optional)

• approx. 1 tbs maple syrup to taste (or any unrefined sweetener of choice)

*I didn't have cherries to hand (which would have made a more classic bakewell). I use frozen fruits as they are more readily available for me at this time of year. Their colour does not bleed so much as I mix then through, and they do not risk burning in the oven.

Method:

Mix everything together adding the raspberries in the final strokes. Spoon into a medium oven dish, add a few extra almond flakes into the top if you like. Don't addd the bliss balls yet! If you are making your own bliss balls, you have a 10 minute window to make them now.

Bake at 180C for a total of approx. 25 mins until the topping is golden. After 10-15 mins whilst the top is still quite soft (and not golden) add the bliss balls, pressing them lightly into the top. Continue baking until golden on top.

Serve immediately, alone or with non-dairy yoghurt, cream or (ice-cream for dessert!) Also great eaten cold the next day.

Quinoa flake breakfast bake

I have never really baked with quinoa flakes before, mainly because I struggle to get hold of them around here. But a few a weeks ago when I visited Wholefoods on Kensington High Street in London for the very first time (much, much excitement) I picked up a bag.

So on Sunday morning when I was debating breakfast, I figured a little experimentation with my new purchase was in order! As it turned out, this little experiment became a rather yummy breakfast experience. This single serve breakfast bake will see you right through to lunch…and it’s so pretty too, the perfect start to your day. This could easily be served as dessert as well, maybe add a little more sweetness if serving as dessert as I was going for more of a ‘breakfast level’ sweetness with this bake and let the banana provide all the sweetness, other than a light drizzle of brown rice syrup on the top. You can use any summer berries you wish, I happened to have a few stranwberries to hand at the time. You could mix berries through the batter, but I would be careful not to make the batter too wet.

I mixed in a few oats with my quinoa flakes, but feel free to use all quinoa if you like (it may work with all oats as well but I haven’t tested this yet). The quinoa provides a lovely light texture in an otherwise moist and dense and bananary bread. Be sure to use a dish that allows the batter to be no more than 15mm thick as you may find it does not cook all the way through if much thicker.

I used a mini fluted ceramic pie dish (a recent new purchase that I was desperate to use for something!) and the bake was quite difficult to remove neatly. You can either it eat straight from the dish or make sure you use a greased/lined tin with a removable base which should make things much easier.

Recipe: Quinoa flake breakfast bake

serves 1

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe banana- very well mashed
• Agave to taste if necessary (I didn’t use any extra)
• ½ cup quinoa flakes
• ¼ cup oats- GF if needed (or more quinoa flakes)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp cinnamon (optional)
• ¼ cup chopped nuts of choice
• Soy yoghurt to mix (I used approx. 3 tbs)
• Handful of berries to decorate
• Brown rice syrup/agave/maple syrup to drizzle

Method

Mix all ingredients (other than berries and drizzle) together in a small bowl adding the soy yoghurt last to achieve a thick smooth consistency. Spoon the mixture into a greased/lined mini pie dish  and decorate the top with the berries. Make sure the mixture is no more than roughly 1.5cm thick as it may not cook through properly.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 for approx. 15 minutes until the top is lightly golden.

Whilst still warm drizzle with a little syrup and serve immediately.

Quinoa and chickpea burgers

I have a few basic principles that I try to keep in mind when I cook:

...Healthy without compromising on taste

...Indulgent without compromising health

...Simple meals that come together quickly

...Snacks and meals that can be made in bulk and frozen

...Recipes that are really versatile

So, with that in mind these Quinoa and Chickpea Burgers make their marks on the tick list. They provide a high protein hit, perfect for a vegan diet, are really simple to throw together, are suitable for freezing and could be dressed up in a variety of ways. Perfect for super speedy lunches or suppers, when I get in late from the gym.

I now make the process even simpler for myself as I cook and freeze batches of chickpeas and quinoa in bulk so I have always have them to hand, it’s also a much cheaper way than buying canned chickpeas or packets of pre-cooked quinoa (which I used to do for speed!)  I prepare a lot of my regularly used ingredients in bulk…I will elaborate on this is a separate post another time.

I sourced the original recipe here and actually made very few changes, other than adding a little leek and a few tweaks to spices.

These burgers held together really well and had a really lovely ‘substantial’ texture due to the quinoa grains. I served them with a simple tomato and basil salsa on a bed of stir fried courgette ribbons and spinach. They’d be equally at home in a bun, or made into small ‘meatballs’ with some spicier flavours….just made a mental note to try this!  I also had a leftover burger which I had cold the next day on its own as a snack, I think that may have been even better than the freshly cooked hot version!

These versatility of these quinoa burgers follow in the same vein as these sweet potato cakes and also these meat balls.

Recipe: Quinoa and chickpea burgers

Makes 4 medium patties (you could easily double this recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup cooked quinoa
• ½ cup cooked mashed chickpeas
• 1 small onion or half a leek- finely chopped
• 1 rounded tbs ground chia or flax seed
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs fresh basil- chopped (or 1tsp dried)
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 4 tbs potato starch/tapioca flour (other starches should also work)
• 1 tbs mild oil for frying

Method

Dry fry the dried spices for approx. 2 minutes until the aromas are released.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

Chill the mixture for approx. 30-60mins to allow to firm up and marinade

Uisng your hands, form patties approx. 1.5-2cm thick and fry for approx. 5 minutes on each side. To omit most of the oil, you could coat the outside in a very light covering of oil and bake them for approx. 15 minutes until golden (note: I haven’t yet tested this method)

Pumpkin scones

I keep my promises…

…and as promised here is my pumpkin scone recipe to share with you all. It's late at night and my bed is calling but I was determined to post this recipe on Halloween itself- and I made it with 5 minutes to spare!

I took the entire batch of scones to work today to share with my colleagues as an afternoon snack. Everyone had a taste and there were many ‘noises’ of approval around the room. Maybe they were just being nice… well, why not find out for yourself! 

I’ll save you the guess work- they were very yummy indeed! Warming and delicately spicy just the way you would imagine a thick cut wedge of moist ochre coloured tea bread.

If autumn were a food she would definitely be a pumpkin scone!

We ate the scones warmed from the oven split open and spread with butter and drizzled with a little syrup (well, they did and I had a dollop of soy yoghurt). They are perfectly moist and moreish all on their on but a topping always finishes it off nicely- nut butter could also work well!

I have to admit I feel as though I somewhat cheated a little. I had planned on buying a pumpkin and preparing the puree from scratch, but all the ones I saw in the shops were huge pumpkins ready to be carved. Then I remembered I had a bottle of pure organic pumpkin puree already tucked away in my baking box. Teamed up with some pumpkin seeds sprinkled across the top and you have your perfect recipe for all year round. I imagine the pumpkin could just as easily be substituted for squash or even sweet potato!

Recipe: pumpkin scones

Makes approx. 12 wedges (in a large circle)

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup rapadura plus ¼ tsp stevia
• 3 ½ cups mix of white and wholemeal spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup coconut butter
• 2 cups pureed pumpkin
• Handful of pumpkin seeds

Method

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix through partially melted coconut butter to achieve a crumb consistency to the mixture. Add pureed pumpkin and combine well until a dough is formed.

On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times, pushing it into a large circle a (generous) inch thick. Sprinkle the top with pumpkin seeds and press lightly into surface.

Place dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and score the dough into 12 (or 8 larger) triangular pieces. It is easiest to do this once the dough is on the baking sheets ready to go straight into the oven as it may be hard to transfer to the baking sheet once cut. Don’t worry if the dough is sticky and difficult to cut all the way through, the segments should just serves as a guide and can be cut fully once cooked.

Bake at 200C degrees for approx. 15 minutes until golden. Allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving.

---

Why not sign up for my newsletter in my sidebar where you get blog post round ups plus other goodies (such as special offers, challenges and collaborations) right there in your inbox!

Day to day you can always find me hanging out in these places:

Instagram   -   Facebook   -   Twitter   -   Pinterest