Pear almond frangipane porridge
The almond croissant flavoured food items has gained popularity over the years, this is my interpretation of an almond croissant flavour, but in a fibre filled breakfast format, with added caramelised pears.
The frangipane, or almondy flavour comes from the added almond extract, ground almonds, and almond butter stirred through the oats, and with the roasted almonds for a crunchy topping.
I like to caramelise my pears first, by simply heating them up in a saucepan with cinnamon (or any other spices you like), along with some maple syrup for sweetness. As this mixture warms up, the maple syrup thickens, and coats the fruit pieces in a sticky caramel like sauce. To make sure I don’t lose any of this sweetness created by caramelising the pears, I cook the oatmeal in the same pan, once decanting the fruit into a separate dish to add on top later. This means that once adding the rest of the porridge ingredients, the sweet cinnamon maple syrup flavour is stirred through.
Pears in my opinion, are an underrated fruit choice to add into your breakfast. Often people go with apples, and create oatmeal recipes inspired by apple pie or apple crumble. Don’t get me wrong, I am also a big fan of these too, however, switching it up with a sweeter and often pear, makes for a nice change. Pears are rich in both soluble and insoluble fibres, a medium sized fruit providing you with 20% of your daily recommended fibre intake, optimising your digestion and giving your gut lots of extra love. One of the soluble fibres, pectin also has immune boosting benefits. They are also rich in polyphenols and antioxidants such as quercetin, having anti-inflammatory properties. Along with this, they are rich in vitamin C (for immune system), vitamin K (to aid bone health), and potassium. Potassium is necessary for nerve function, as well as muscle function, which may need extra reparation after being broken down after long spells of malnutrition.
Along with the pears, other ingredients in this recipe, may be beneficial for your health and rehabilitation. Flax seeds are added to the oat base (see my last blog post on banoffee porridge to read all their nutritional benefits). The addition of various forms of almond provide you with a great source of healthy fats. Many of us in recovery (including myself for a long time), saw fats as something to be fearful of. Yes, they do have a higher energy per g quantity than carbohydrates or proteins, but this should be seen as an advantage and not something to be frowned upon. As they are higher in calories, it means we can consume what our body requires in a smaller volume of food, instead of trying to bulk our meals and snacks out with fruits and vegetables, which may cause additional bloating.
Almonds are full of monounsaturated fats, and contain a large proportion of your reference daily Vitamin E intake. Vitamin E is part of the fat soluble antioxidant family, playing important roles in cardiovascular health, your skin health by protecting you from oxidative stress, boosting immune health by using its antioxidant properties to inhibit damage of immune cells from free radicals. Vitamin E deficiencies have also been looked to low mood, and anxiety and stress in sufferers, hence why when recovering from mental illness, we must also think about the psychological benefits of vitamins in certain foods we eat, to boost brain cognition and not just physical health complaints. Almonds are also fibre rich, acting as a prebiotic for the bacteria located within your gut, optimising digestive health, by helping to establish a more diverse gut microbiome. Furthermore, they are a great source of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, all relevant for maintaining strong bones.
This recipe calls for ground almonds, chopped almonds and almond butter. It is worth noting that whole chopped almonds, with the skin on may be more beneficial than the other forms of almond, due to the limited processing, and the fact they still have the skin, which contains lots of the fibre and micronutrients listed above.
What you’ll need
Rolled oats
Flax seeds
Milk of choice
Maple syrup
Small pear
Cinnamon (and any other spices you like)
Almond extract
Ground almonds
Almond butter
Greek yoghurt
Chopped roasted almonds
The process I follow
Initially I peel and chop the pear into small cubes, but if you are looking to get the full fibre benefit from the pears, I would recommend leaving the skin on. However, if like me, and have trouble digesting fruit skins due to IBS like symptoms, I would suggest removing the peel. In a saucepan along with the pears, I add cinnamon and maple syrup, and if I notice when heating it starts to stick, or that the maple syrup is burning on the bottom, I add a splash of boiling water to prevent the mixture from congealing. Cook the pears down until softening, and a sticky syrup is formed around the cubes.
I then remove the sticky pear chunks from the pan, setting aside to top my porridge later. The rest of the oat base recipe get added to the same pan, allowing the cinnamony caramel mix to disperse it's flavour throughout the porridge as it cooks.
The oats gets cooked on a low heat, and only when nearly all of the milk has been absorbed do I begin to add splashes of water to allow the oats to cook further until my preferred consistency is reached. In the last minute of cooking time, I suggest adding a heaped tablespoon of greek yoghurt to the porridge to add a creamy, thick texture.
I serve the spiced, almond flavoured porridge into a bowl, spoon on the caramelised pears, and top with a scatter of roasted skin on almonds which I prepared as the oats were cooking away.
Ingredients + Measurements
Small pear peeled (or not) and chopped into cubes
1 tsp maple syrup
½ tsp cinnamon (additional pinch of ginger, nutmeg, cloves or cardamom, whatever you like!)
40g rolled oats
1 tsp ground flax or flax seeds
½ tbsp ground almonds
½ tsp almond extract
150ml milk
1 tbsp almond butter
1 heaped tbsp thick greek yoghurt
6 skin on whole almonds
Method:
Start by adding the pear pieces to a small saucepan along with the maple syrup and cinnamon, as well as any other spices you like
Heat the pears on a low to medium heat, until they begin to soften, and become coated in a sticky, caramel like sauce. If it appears to be sticking on the bottom of the pan, add small splashes of water to prevent the sugar in the syrup burning
Once the pears are ready, decant into a small dish to reserve for later
Tip the oats, flax seeds, ground almonds, almond extract, milk and almond butter into the same pan
Gently mix, so the maple cinnamon mix residue dissipates into the oat base
Cook on a low heat, until the milk is almost fully been absorbed by the oats, then add splashes of water to further cook the porridge base, until it reaches your desired conistency.
Whilst the porridge is cooking, roast your almonds in a dry pan, or oven at 170 degrees Celsius for a few minutes, until browning slightly, and you can smell a nutty aroma that they give off once nice and toasty.
Remove nuts from pan or oven, and chop roughly
In the last minute of the porridge cooking time, add a heaped tablespoon of yoghurt to create a lovely creamy texture. Make sure to stir this well.
Pour your porridge into a bowl, top with the cinnamony caramelised pears, and a scatter of toasted almonds
Enjoy!