Sugar Free Chocolate Puffed Cereals
I often bang on about how wonderful a low sugar diet can be, and how enjoyable it is. How much more flavour and freshness you get in your diet. How much fun it can be to come up with sugar free foods and recipes. I 100% believe this. Still, there is one time when being low sugar can seem like a pain sometimes without careful planning: breakfast.
With good meal planning, we get to enjoy some delicious recipes full of eggs, vegetables, wholegrains and general deliciousness. But most of the time this requires me prepping and planning ahead of time, and even cooking first thing in the morning. So not what I feel like doing at 6am!
Most of the time I can make things ahead of time and we all love it. Or I can just scramble some eggs with practically zero effort and please all but my egg whites phobic son (who gets a fried or poached egg and eats just the yolk…sigh). But to cut myself some slack (I am only human after all), I plan a few porridge or sugar free cereals and toast with peanut butter mornings in the week, too. Breakfasts that we can just grab without fuss.
The problem is, sugar free cereals come in two forms: Shredded Wheat (not even Shreddies, just Shredded Wheat) or porridge oats. A third low sugar option is Weetabix. That’s it. And while these things can be really delicious when dressed up with fresh or frozen fruit, nuts & seeds, and cinnamon or cacao, they can be a bit bland. At least to me (my kids are usually pretty ecstatic about these choices).
I can’t say I particularly miss the million-and-one colourful cereal box choices, each one filled with a more lengthy and unrecognisable ingredients list than the next, but I do enjoy coming up with some simple recipes that can seem as exciting as these cereals appear without tasting like overly sweetened cardboard and leaving us burned out and seeking more sugar by 10am.
My peanut butter granola is probably my favourite go-to for those times. Or Superfood for Superchildren‘s nut & seed granola. But this cereal recipe was a happy experiment that takes me far less time to create as I don’t have to faff around with ovens and baking times.
Four ingredients, one pan, 2 minutes. Et voila! An exciting looking and tasting cereal that you can munch on whenever you cannot face yet another bowl of Shredded Wheat but don’t have the energy to cook!
This is my take on the popular chocolate puffed cereal I remember as a child, but it’s actually healthy, gluten free, vegan, sugar free, and more intensely chocolate-y. But don’t worry, it still has a slight crunch that softens when left to soak and leaves the milk chocolate-y. Because let’s face it, that was going to be your next question, wasn’t it? 😉
A sugar free chocolate puffed cereal that is healthy, gluten free, vegan and delicious (and still leaves your milk chocolate-y!). Perfect for those days when you can't face another bowl of porridge or for convincing kids sugar free breakfasts don't have to be bland or egg-based.
- 1/4 cup (50g) coconut oil (at room temperature but solid)
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tbsp xylitol (adjust or leave out to taste but this is my recommendation)
- 2 cups (80g) puffed quinoa (you could substitute puffed rice but I love the texture and extra protein boost the quinoa gives)
- 1 cup (20g) puffed amaranth (or more puffed quinoa)
-
Melt the coconut oil, cacao powder and xylitol together in a large saucepan over medium heat. Take off the heat and stir in the puffed cereals until completely coated in the chocolate. Allow to cool. Serve cold with dairy or non-dairy unsweetened milk. Will keep for a week in an airtight container, but it probably won't last that long!
Love this recipe! Question: where do you buy the puffed quinoa/what brand is it?
Hi Lexi, I stock up if Aldi have it on sale (occasionally) as it’s the cheapest place, but health shops often have it. Or you can get it online, but I often find that the most expensive way: https://amzn.to/2LWP1Z2 🙂
What can I use if I do not have coconut oil?
Hi Abi, the same amount of melted butter would be best.