Cranberry and Pecan Instant Bircher

Now that I've recovered from the shock of the summer heatwave suddenly disappearing, I have very happily moved onto an autumn mindset. Porridge has started to return to my breakfast, although I'm still having muesli and granola-based bowls more often than not. I hardly ever remember to prep breakfast the night before though, so I've been missing bircher, or overnight oats, from my mornings. To combat this, I've made an instant one that goes thick and creamy in minutes rather than hours. In essence, you take all the dry ingredients that would have featured in your breakfast, blitz them up together into a rough powder. Then, all you need to do is stir milk, juice or yoghurt into the mix and you're good to go. Almost no waiting, and no scrabbling around trying to find all the ingredients and toppings. The best thing is is that this bircher mix is very versatile. Use it wherever you would have used oats or flour. This could be in porridge or pancakes, but also in crumbles, scones and more.With the seasons shifting, I went for ingredients that felt more autumnal -pecans, cranberries and cinnamon. Just thinking of those three items makes me think of crisp leaves and holidays spent over on the east coast of America.

Instant Cranberry and Pecan Bircher

Author: Elle Coales

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 500g oats
• 100g pecans
• 50g pumpkin seeds
• 50g ground flaxseed
• 100g dried cranberries
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. In a food processor, blitz the oats into a rough powder. Tip out into a bowl.
2. Under a grill, lightly toast the pecans and pumpkin seeds until the pumpkins start to pop. Transfer into the bowl with the oats.
3. Add the flaxseed, cranberries and cinnamon and stir together.
4. In batches, return the mix to the food processor and blitz again. It doesn't need to be too fine; I quite like little chunks of pecans and cranberries.
5. Transfer into an airtight jar ready to serve.

Notes

To make bircher, take 3-4 tablespoons of the mix, and stir in oat milk and a little coconut yoghurt. You could also try mixing it with kefir or even a mix or orange or apple juice with natural yoghurt.[br]For speedy porridge, simply heat over the stove or in a microwave with milk.