Honey-Baked Fig & Blackberry Breakfast Pots with Hazelnut Granola
One of the many things I enjoy about cooking for people on retreats is serving up fancy breakfasts! Nowadays, people don’t even seem to have time to grab a bowl of cereal and so when they come and experience the slow-pace nature of retreat life, I like to offer some indulgent morning meals that people can take their time over.
Here in France, autumn brings an abundance of figs. I have had the privilege of eating them straight from the tree and its amazing to see how the fruits just seem to keep on coming for weeks and weeks.
These breakfast pots are my little celebration of autumn. With seasonal figs, blackberries and hazelnuts, some warming spices and orange zest. I do like to use a good-quality organic honey here as the mellow flavours that you get from the honey just work so well the figs. If you don’t want to use honey, I recommend using rice malt syrup as it has a thick consistency similar to honey.
Despite seeming overly fussy to make, this is a super simple recipe that you can prepare for yourself in advance for the week… making the batch of granola and roasted figs at the beginning of the week means you can simply assemble a yogurt pot each morning, Ideal breakfast for a grab and go option or maybe… take your time to eat… maybe while you watch your favourite tree change the colours of it’s leaves...
HONEY-BAKED FIG & BLACKBERRY BREAKFAST POTS with hazelnut granola
makes 6 (plus extra granola) • 30 minutes
for the baked figs:
9 small fresh ripe figs
180g / 1½ cup fresh or frozen blackberries
zest & juice of 1 large orange
2½ tbsp of organic honey (or rice syrup)
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole star anise
10-12 big spoonfuls of thick yogurt of your choice
for the granola:
100g / ⅔ cup whole hazelnuts
150g / 1½ cup oats
45g / ⅓ cup hulled hemp hearts
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground ginger
100g / ~½ cup hazelnut butter or any nut/seed butter
80ml / ⅓ cup rice syrup or honey
2 tbsp coconut oil
For the granola:
Preheat the oven to 180C℃/356℉ and line a large baking tray.
Add the hazelnuts to a food processor and blend for about a minute or until you have a rough mixture with irregular size pieces. Add your blitzed hazelnuts to a large bowl along with the oats, hemp hearts and spices.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the hazelnut butter, syrup and coconut oil. Add the mix to the dry ingredients and, I find it easiest to use my hands, work the sticky mixture into the oats and nuts. Work the mixture until all the dry ingredients are coated and you have small clusters.
Thinly spread the granola over a lined baking sheet (you may need more than one) and transfer to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, checking on it and turning the tray after 10 minutes.
Once baked, don’t touch or agitate the granola. Leave it to completely cool and it will solidify into delicious crunchy clusters. Once the granola is cool, break it apart and store in an airtight container.
For the baked figs & blackberries:
Preheat the oven to 180C℃/356℉ and line a deep baking tray with parchment paper.
Slice the figs in half and add to a bowl along with the blackberries, cinnamon sticks and star anise.
In a small jug, whisk together the orange zest, orange juice and honey. If the honey is super thick, gently hit the mixture over a low heat until the honey and orange juice are combined.
Pour the honey mixture over the figs and berries and stir so that all the fruit are coated in the syrup. Spread out over the lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.
Serve straight away or they can be stored in the fridge for about a week.
For the breakfast pots:
With your figs and granola prepared, simply assemble your breakfast pots by layering your yogurt with fruits and granola. Most important is to add a spoonful of the syrup from the baked fruit over the top.
*an optional extra is to prepare some soaked chia seeds the night before (combining 20g of chia seeds with 100 ml of oat or rice milk) and then adding a spoonful of chia when layering your breakfast pots.