With firm family favourites regularly replenished and taking pride of place in the larder, breakfast cereals tend to make an appearance in most kitchen cupboards. Not only do they fill your bowl with the best fuel for the day, but they can also constitute an ideal and innovative baking ingredient. So why not consider getting creative and doing something a little different with one or two of these traditional and satisfying breakfast basics?
Rolled oats
This hearty and wholesome staple is commonly used for creating a satisfying and warming breakfast of porridge. Yet when it comes to baking, flapjacks are often the first culinary creation to spring to mind. Rolled oats can be quite a versatile addition to any kitchen cupboard. Used in crumble, they give extra crunch to the more traditional take on this tasty dessert.
Similarly, they’re also a great ingredient for homemade granola. Mix rolled oats with a small spoonful of honey or syrup. Add cinnamon and nuts or grains and bake the mixture in the oven until golden. Enjoy your granola as a simple snack or as a tasty topping with fresh fruit and yoghurt.
Muesli
You can’t beat a bowl of muesli for a high fibre breakfast cereal that’s both a tasty treat and a healthy option. Eaten on its own or as tasty yoghurt topping, muesli makes breakfast a meal not to be missed. You can also enjoy muesli at any time of the day. Why not make muesli bars for a satisfying snack or tasty lunchbox treat?
You can also use muesli to create a dreamy lemon drizzle cake. Cream 200g butter and 200g caster sugar into a large bowl and stir in 300g muesli that’s been whizzed up in a food processor. Add a teaspoon of baking powder, the grated zest from one lemon and the juice of half a lemon. Mix together then spoon into a 20cm loose-based cake tin. While this is baking for 45 minutes, place the rind from two lemons and the juice from three and a half lemons in a small saucepan and heat over a low heat with six tablespoons of sugar until dissolved. When the cake is done, prick it all over with a skewer and drizzle the syrup over your masterpiece.
Cereal can be the basis for many recipes, including chocolate brownies, muffins, different flavours of cake and crunchy cookies. Cereal doesn’t have to be limited to a breakfast bowl – it’s also more than happy in a mixing bowl being whipped up into all manner of delicious recipes!
