{Double} Chocolate & Cherry Porridge – A Mother’s Day or Easter Breakfast Treat

terrible phone photo – sorry

In households up and down the land, children are up to something. Hiding a spilt Ribena stain – perhaps; red pen marks on their homework – most assuredly. But no doubt they are also deciding what they can surprise their mum with for Mother’s Day.*

We mums can usually bank on a gorgeous homemade card (schools are good that way) as well as something fashioned from twists of paper and day-goo pipe cleaners. But breakfast, that can often be a bit, well, interesting. Why not save them – and you – the grief of attempting scrambled eggs or flipping pancakes. Why not hint that you really quite fancy this fantastically easy double(!) chocolate & cherry porridge by handing them a red pen and asking them to ring all of the speling mistackes. It is ezily doubled for the whole family.

This is of course also perfect for a chocolatey Easter breakfast, or really any time you feel a bit transgressive but still wish to cling to a notion of high nutritional ideals. The fruit makes it okay. Truly.

Justify, justify. ;-) Enjoy.

Double Chocolate & Cherry Porridge

Servings: 2
Difficulty: child's play
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The breakfast that thinks it’s dessert. The texture is akin to one of those gooey chocolate desserts you get in restaurants but with none of the scary amounts of fat, sugar and white flour.

Don’t fancy cherries? Sub in chopped pears, berries or even pomegranate arils.

1 cup wholegrain oats (gluten free if you need it) OR buckwheat flakes

2 & 1/4 cups milk of choice – almond is lovely

2 tbsp best cocoa/cacao

1 heaped tsp raw honey or maple syrup (I like Scottish heather honey) – optional

3 tbsp unsweetened/dark chocolate chips

½ cup pitted fresh of frozen cherries (I used defrosted, frozen tart/sour cherries I get from Real Foods in Edinburgh – love the tang)

50g/small handful of toasted pecans or other nut, roughly chopped

2 heaped tsp bee pollen – optional

What you do: Add the oats, milk, cocoa and honey to a saucepan. Gently heat, stirring frequently, until thickened to your liking. Stir in most of the chocolate chips, the cherries, and most of the pecans. Serve with reserved pecans and chocolate chips on top. A scattering of bee pollen is lovely too.

Note: I haven’t tried this but I imagine this chocolate porridge will be good reheated. You could also serve this as a simple pudding/dessert, with a bit of cream poured over to make swirling puddles of decadence. Extra whole cherries would certainly make this an elegant-ish dessert.

*The UK celebrates Mothering Sunday/Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday of Lent in the Christian calendar.

PS the images are mainly from my terrible phone, but hopefully you get the idea.