breakfast:

carrot cake overnight oats with honey and cinnamon yoghurt

Published 23rd January 2020

Happy New Year. Apologies for my lack of regularity with recipes here in the past few months. I am going to make an effort to post a little more regularly this year, so stay tuned for some delicious recipes.

Overnight oats or Bircher muesli is a great way to start your day and a nice change from an ordinary muesli or granola and great for those who love porridge in the Winter – kind of like a Summer porridge. I absolutely love a good carrot cake and the combination of spices that are used in a carrot cake are delicious, hence, I have been meaning to create this recipe for months. Currently, we have carrots growing in the garden and I have had a little bit more time with school holidays and the Christmas break, so it seemed like a good time. And a great recipe to be the first addition to my blog for 2020 and this decade.

 
 
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Oats are one of the best ways that you can start the day. They are a filling, low GI carbohydrate source, which means they will cause a lower spike in blood sugar level, leaving you feeling more satiated than something with a higher glycemic index. They also are a great source of soluble fibre, which has been shown to assist with improving cholesterol as well as being important for digestive health.

Our kids really enjoy Bircher muesli. Whenever I have made a batch, it is always the breakfast of choice over their usual faves. The carrot cake flavours were also well received, although Mark did comment that there was too much carrot, but I feel that if he couldn’t see the carrot it would not have bothered him in the slightest.

Ordinarily, for our breakfasts, we would just have my homemade natural, Greek style yoghurt, but I thought that I would flavour the yoghurt for this with some honey and cinnamon, to make it a bit reminiscent of the cream cheese icing that often accompanies a carrot cake. If you wanted to take this one step further, you could add some cream cheese to this yoghurt. And if you wanted to make it even more carrot cake like, you could soak it in half pineapple juice to mimic the pineapple that is commonly added to a carrot cake.

Enjoy xx

 
 
 
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Ingredients:

Serves 6

  • 2 1/2 cups rolled oats

  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger

  • 1/4 tsp allspice

  • 60g raisins, roughly chopped

  • 1 medium carrot, peeled and grated

  • 1 medium apple, peeled and grated

  • 3 cups water

Toppings

  • 2 cups thick Greek style yoghurt

  • 1 tbs ground cinnamon

  • 1 tbs honey

  • 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted

  • 1/4 cup coconut flakes, toasted

  • 1/4 cup pepitas, toasted

 

Method:

  1. The night before, prepare the oats by placing the oats, spices, raisins, grated carrot and apple into a medium sized bowl that can be covered, or a container with a lid. Stir to evenly mix the carrot, apple and spices through the oats.

  2. Add the 3 cups of water and stir again to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

  3. To toast the nuts and seeds, preheat the oven to 200°C and place the walnuts onto a baking tray. Place into the oven for 10 minutes. Once 5 minutes has lapsed, add the pepitas and flaked coconut. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Place into a container to be used in the morning.

  4. In the morning, prepare the honey cinnamon yoghurt by placing the yoghurt, honey and cinnamon into a bowl and mixing well to combine.

  5. Serve desired portion (1/2-2/3 cup is usually adequate) of soaked oats into a bowl, top with a couple of dollops of yoghurt and a sprinkle of the walnut mix.