I’m very cautious not to romanticise breakfast.
Because from Monday to Friday, if you think I do anything more than eat toast or soaked oats with sleep in my eyes and an eyemask on my head while the dog judges me, you’d be wrong.
I work a full time job. You can swivel if you think I’m waking up and getting a frying pan out or mixing up some batter.
People that say they do can’t be trusted.
My effort breakfasts come at a weekend. Oh absolutely, on a Saturday you can definitely expect some pancakes on the go or some French toast, some fancy shmancy salmon-avocado numbers, this is when you can fully expect me in the full throes of breakfast romance.
So sometimes, on a Sunday, when the sun are as high as my expectations, I make some Breakfast Bars.
Partly because it saves me eating a huge amount of toast every morning, mostly because I’m too lazy to cut bread – these breakfast bars often save me.
My morning routine consists of dragging my caveman body out of bed, going to the gym, walking the dog, showering and getting ready for work. Adding a full breakfast experience to this is obtuse, so instead plucking open a Tupperware box of chewy, light Breakfast Bars adds nothing more than a slight side step in my routine.
A welcome step it is.
This can chop up into 12 middle-finger length slices, which when accompanied by a coffee and a banana make a banging breakfast on the go for me as I drive to work. I can’t say I then don’t snack on these throughout the week outside of breakfast but that’s my cross to bear.
Preheat the oven to 180c and line a square baking tin with baking paper.
In a processor, blitz up 50g of pumpkin seeds and 70g of salted peanuts. Empty these into a bowl.
Into the processor, throw a small handful of dates and some raisins. Add in a tablespoon of flavourless oil, 1 tablespoons of runny honey, 1 tablespoon of tahini, the zest and juice of a lemon and blitz everything to a fudgy, caramel like paste.
Scrape this into the bowl of seeds and peanuts.
Add in 100g of jumbo oats along with a throw of salt and stir together to create a thick, oaty ball. Spoon this into the lined baking tin, using the back of a spoon to flatten out the mixture as flat as possible. Slip this into the oven for 30 minutes.
When it’s golden and brown, leave to sit and cool a little before slicing up.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 