A Halloween-themed breakfast made with oats, chocolate-covered bananas and marshmallow ‘monsters’.
Boo! Halloween may be one of the oddest ‘holidays’ in the year, but I love it. Especially since I live in an apartment and don’t have to deal with trick-or-treaters.
After all, it’s much more pleasant to think about fictitious witches, ghost and ghouls rather than the terrifying real world.
Since everything can, and should, be celebrated through breakfast, today’s recipe is my overnight oats version of a not-so-spooky graveyard. And if you’re not into Halloween, then this could simply be a recipe for chocolate and orange overnight oats.
To add some fun to your morning, this ‘graveyard’ comes complete with ‘soil’ (a chocolate crumb), ‘tombstones’ (chocolate-covered bananas) and ‘ghosts’ or ‘monsters’ (decorated marshmallows).
The overnight oats themselves are flavored with orange juice, orange zest and, of course, cocoa powder. For extra fruitiness, you could add a chopped orange. And for additional extra chocolate hit, add some chocolate chips.
On top of the oats we have a chocolate crumb. The crumb is made primarily from quick-cooking oats, shredded coconut, hazelnut meal (or hazelnut flour), cocoa powder and more orange juice. The mixture is baked for about 15 minutes, then cooled, resulting in a slightly-crunchy, slightly-chewy ‘soil’.
If you don’t have any hazelnut meal, try almond meal (or almond flour) instead. Alternatively, add some extra quick-cooking oats.
Then we come to the fun part: the decorations. I used frozen bananas to make the ‘tombstones’, mostly for convenience, but fresh ones are fine too. To make the ‘tombstones’, slice a banana into (approximately) two-inch chunks, cover the chunks in dark (or milk) chocolate, and allow the chocolate to set. Melted chocolate sets almost instantaneously on frozen bananas, but will take longer on fresh ones (but if you place the banana chunks in the freezer, the chocolate will set faster).
Once the dark chocolate has set, use melted white chocolate to write ‘BOO’ or ‘RIP’ or whatever else takes your fancy. (Tip: White chocolate burns really easily when you melt it in the microwave, so keep an eye on it!)
Also, if you’re trying to economize on bananas, you can slice the chunks in half lengthways before covering them in chocolate, so each two-inch chunk yields two ‘tombstones’.
Finally, we have the marshmallow ‘ghosts’ or ‘monsters’. I decorated my marshmallows with melted dark chocolate and M&M’s (which are stuck on with melted chocolate). I also used Dandies vegetarian/vegan-friendly marshmallows. To me, they taste exactly the same as regular marshmallows, but it has been a long time since I’ve eaten a ‘normal’ marshmallow.
If marshmallows aren’t your thing, then you could decorate chunks of bananas, meringues, or strawberries dipped in white chocolate. And to add some extra fun/randomness to your breakfast, serve the overnight oats in a scooped-out orange bowl.
Happy (early) Halloween!
P.S. We’re just hours away from the third and final presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. If that sentence doesn’t scare you, then I’m not sure what will.
- Overnight oats
- 1 cup Greek-style yogurt
- ½ cup orange juice
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ⅔ cup rolled oats
- 1 - 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Chocolate crumb- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup quick-cooking oats
- 1 tablespoon hazelnut meal
- 1 tablespoon shredded coconut
- Pinch of salt
Toppings- Chocolate-covered (frozen) bananas
- Marshmallow monsters or ghosts
- Overnight oats: In a bowl or container, combine the yogurt, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla extract. Stir in the cocoa powder. Add the rolled oats and maple syrup. Mix until completely combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or put the lid on the container) and leave in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning, stir in a little extra milk if the oats are too thick.
- Chocolate crumb: Preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C). Line a large baking sheet with non-stick paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the orange juice, maple syrup, cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Add the quick-cooking oats, hazelnut meal, shredded coconut and salt. Mix until well combined.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, or until the crumbs are dry.
- Allow the chocolate crumb to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
- To assemble: Divide the overnight oats between two bowls. Top with plenty of the chocolate crumb, as well as some chocolate-covered frozen bananas and marshmallow monsters.
Slice a frozen or fresh banana into approximately two-inch chunks. Then, if desired, slice each chunk in half lengthways. Cover the chunks in melted dark chocolate, and place in the freezer to set. Use melted white chocolate to write ‘RIP’ or ‘BOO’ to make the bananas look like little tombstones.
Marshmallow monsters
Decorate some (vegetarian-friendly) marshmallows with melted dark chocolate and colored candies to make ‘monsters’.
Yogurt
Plain, vanilla, or orange flavored yogurt will all be fine. If your yogurt is quite sour, you may wish to increase the maple syrup (and, conversely, you may wish to reduce the maple syrup if your yogurt is quite sweet). The yogurt does not need to be authentic Greek yogurt, it simply needs to be thick and creamy.
Gluten Free
To make this breakfast gluten-free, make sure you use certified GF oats and GF marshmallows.