This one has something of a few surprises in terms of ingredients. It really was a mission to use up a list of food stuffs that one might find if the culinary equivalent of a bric-a-brac stall existed.

Among other things, I’d been left with some children’s breakfast cereals – frosted flakes & a Disney-themed cross between Cheerios and rice crispies, cited as being ‘whole grain’. What on earth was I going to do with these?

In this anti-sugar era, eating them for breakfast was never going to be sanctioned, even if every adult who grew up on these things secretly has fond memories of full cream milk & huge bowls of sweet sticky cereal, rapidly moving from crunchy to soggy. The prospect of finding a plastic toy in the box ahead of your sibling rivals was only going to add to desire to eat ever larger bowlfuls, at any time of the day.

And so I set about burying them in a cloak of slightly more nutritious ingredients and using them in a recipe where one might have once upon a time added sugar. Frosted flakes it turns out, can be used to make a tasty, crunchy, crumble-style topping. After all, no matter what the latest nutrition advice, as your gran may have said ‘a little of what you fancy does you good’.

The basic theme was a bread-pudding style (made with the Disney cereal & soya yoghurt – more on this later), layered over a ‘pastry’ base (provided by a stale croissant) with a sweet crunchy topping. Even with the brazen added-sugar, a portion of this comes in at around 270 calories. Better than many alternative desserts. The citrus flavours make it a more summery alternative to crumble. Serve it cold, with a little vanilla ice cream if you aren’t already bouncing off the walls at the thought of it.

Although this ended up as a dessert, the mixture of yoghurt, Disney cereal, citrus & chia seeds would have made for a delicious Bircher-style muesli. Down-weight the kids cereal if you must & replace with spelt flakes for a more adult alternative.

A note on the soya yoghurts: I’d acquired these having had some dairy-free guests. I’d never eaten soya yoghurt but am open to try anything – ‘free from’ products don’t need to be the preserve of those in need, at least not in my view. Calling them ‘dairy alternatives’ relegates them to second best without most of us even trying them. However, I tried. I wasn’t keen. At least not as just a yoghurt. Mixing it with the ‘whole grain’ cereal I think it really came into its own though, adding more character than I think a dairy yoghurt would have done. I can imagine them pairing well with anything with spelt or rye. Go on, give it a go.

Serves 8-10 as a dessert

Ingredients

1. 2tbsp chia seeds
2. 100g breakfast cereal – whatever takes your fancy
3. 400g plain yoghurt – soya, dairy or otherwise
4. 50g rye flakes
5. 2 lemons
6. 2 oranges
7. Dash milk
8. 1 egg
9. 1tsp baking powder
10. 180g frosted flakes
11. 90g butter
12. Stale croissant or bread slices (optional)

Equipment

1. Stick blender
2. Food processor
3. Ovenproof dish – approx 30x40cm, 10cm deep

Method

1. Soak the chia seeds in 6 tablespoons of water for around 20 minutes- until they form a thick, gloopy paste. They are performing a job a little like eggs in this recipe – thickening & binding the other ingredients. If you don’t soak them first they will suck all the moisture from the other ingredients, making for a very firm texture.
2. Soak the breakfast cereal & rye flakes with the yoghurt for about 20 Minutes – until soft.
3. Zest the oranges & lemons and add half to the breakfast cereal mixture. Reserve the remaining half for the crumble topping.
4. Juice the lemons & 1 orange and add this to the cereal. Should be about 120ml ish.
5. Stir in the soaked chia seeds.
6. Blend the mixture briefly to ensure all the ingredients are combined.
7. Segment the remaining orange using a sharp knife, making sure to remove all the bitter white pith. Cut into bite sized pieces and stir into the cereal.
8. You could stop here & you’d have a perfectly nice breakfast, fit for any age!
9. To move it towards a ‘pudding’, add the egg and baking powder and mix well.
10. To make the crumble topping, pulse the frosted flakes in a blender to a coarse crumb. Do this in batches if your blender is small to avoid one half being dust while the other is still whole.
11. Add the butter a few teaspoonfuls at a time, pulsing between each to distribute the butter. If you add the butter in one big lump you’ll be blending for ages and probably have cereal dust before you have crumble.
12. Add the remaining orange zest and pulse briefly to distribute.
13. Grease your ovenproof dish.
14. Slice your croissant and arrange in a single layer on the base of the dish.
15. Spread over the cereal & yoghurt mixture.
16. Spoon over the crunchy crumble, spreading into an even layer.
17. Cover with tin foil – it is quite a big pudding with quite a dry topping. It will burn before it is set if you skip this step.
18. Bake in a medium oven (170ish) for about 30 minutes.
19. Remove the foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes depending on the depth of your mixture, keeping an eye to check the crumble isn’t burning.
20. Check it is cooked by piercing with a knife, it should be moist but not soggy. Put the foil back on if it is burning on the top but soggy in the middle.
21. Allow to cool and serve as breakfast, afternoon tea or dessert. With or without a little extra yoghurt, cream or ice cream.

Frosted flakes for breakfast may be contraband in this era but there is a way to sneak them in after all….