If like me you are always on the look for better and varied breakfast options for your kids that are healthy but quick and straightforward, keep reading.
I used to LOVE Choco-Krispies when I was a kid, specially the infused (and hi in sugar) chocolatey milk at the bottom of the bowl with a few soggy rice bubbles floating around. Maybe the fact that Mum didn't buy them often made them even more of an exotic thing for us but we would finish a box in one day. My siblings and I would have them for breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner. Thinking about it maybe that's why Mum didn't buy them often.
I wanted to share this food memories with my son, and now he has started preschool and we need quick brekkie options in our rushed mornings seemed like the perfect time so I went to look for a less sugary, wholesome and homemade option of my favourite childhood cereal.
Eleanor Ozich's recipe inspired mine, with a few tweaks as I wanted the full chocolate flavour without coconut distractions and the addition of brown rice syrup for a nice and still unrefined variation to honey and maple syrup.
I use cacao butter here; it is readily available at most big supermarkets or health shops and very easy to work with, just melted on a Bain Marie or in the microwave if you use one. Plus imparts that extra lift to make them even more tempting.
Safe to say my son adores them and eats them not only for breakfast but as a yogurt bowl topping, over a smoothie or to add extra crunch to chocolate and pecan porridge. So I guess he is not too different to his Mamá... except for that obsession with Marmite, but that is another story.
Choco Bubbles
Makes 4 cups
Ingredients:
4 cups puffed brown rice
40 gr cacao butter solids chopped in smaller pieces, or 3 tbsp melted
3 tbsp cacao powder
3 tbsp brown rice syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160ºC.
Place puffed rice in a bowl big enough to mix freely and set aside.
Melt cacao butter in a Bain Marie or in a small saucepan on low heat. Add rice syrup and cacao powder and mix well till the syrup is nicely combined. Take the mixture off the stove and add vanilla extract. With a silicon spatula mix the still warm chocolate syrup with the rice until all grains are covered. Transfer to a lined oven tray and spread evenly.
Bake for 10min. Once out, separate the grains with a spoon to avoid clumps as they will harden once they are cold. Let the cereal cool down and store in an airtight container.