Vanilla Pear Porridge

We love a good bowl of porridge for breakfast in our house. My boys are really in to pears at the moment, so I made them some porridge topped with warm pears sweetened entirely with vanilla, no extra sugar added. I have this amazing vanilla bean grinder from Dr Oetker, which I got in Germany, and I just grind some in to the pears during cooking. I haven’t seen these grinders in the UK, but you could use a bit of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste instead.

Ingredients (serves 1 adult or 2 kids)

• 4 Tbsp porridge oats (ca. 40g)
• 100ml water
• 100ml almond milk
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp nut butter (e.g. almond or cashew)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• a dash of maple syrup
• 1 large pear
• vanilla bean/ paste/ essence
• Greek yoghurt to serve (optional)
• mixed seeds to garnish (optional)

If you prefer, you can of course make it with all water or all milk. My general rule of thumb is 200ml liquid for 4 Tbsp of oats. We like ours quite thick, so add more liquid if you like yours runnier.

Directions

• Mix the oats with 100ml boiling water in a pan, and leave to soak for 5 minutes. If you are using other oats, e.g. jumbo oats, you will probably need longer than 5 minutes. You want to oats to be softened and slightly mushy.
• While the oats are soaking, peel, core and chop up the pear. Melt 1tsp of coconut oil in a saucepan, and sauté the pears over a medium heat until they are soft, adding in some vanilla to taste after a minute or so.
• Once the oats have finished soaking, stir in the almond milk, remaining coconut oil, spices and maple syrup, and cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until it reaches a thick, creamy consistency.
• Transfer to a bowl. If it seems too thick – the porridge will continue to thicken as it stands and cools – you can stir in another dash of almond milk to loosen it up.
• Add a dollop of Greek yoghurt, and top with the sautéd pears. You can also sprinkle some seeds on top, we have keep a bag of mixed sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds in the house and the boys love adding a bit of crunch to their porridge.