Nigella breakfast bars

So that is it. Lent has begun and so has my abstinence from chocolate. I would not call myself a complete and utter chocoholic, yes I love it and yes, if I am honest I have it most days, however I do not have it multiple times a day and occasionally turn it down (!) so therefore do not feel a complete addict...

The lovely Mark has decided to abstain too which makes both out lives easier, I do not have to watch him chomping it and he does not get biffed on the nose for wafting it in front of me one too many times.

A mini problem arises as I realise that he takes his breakfast to work everyday. His favourite cereal bar. His favourite chocolate cereal bar.

With this thought in my mind I began to think more about the commercial cereal bar. Most of which are full of sugar and not much goodness, and do not keep a man, or woman for that matter, full till lunch time.

I had heard a few people rave about the Nigella breakfast bars so decided to see if I these would be a more nutritious, more filling and chocolate free breakfast.

They are full of good things, oats, plain nuts, mixed plain seeds, dried fruit, a little unsweetened dessicated coconut and condensed milk. These seemed to me a much better thing to eat for breakfast regardless of whether or not they contained chocolate.


The exact recipe can be found here. The beauty of this recipe is that it is adaptable to suit your own tastes. I made a few tweaks myself. Firstly I used light condensed milk, it tastes the same and gives the same baked result. I also altered the amount of nuts and seeds slightly, purely based on the size of the bag the shop sold. Mark also requested prunes instead of apricots.

I had a couple of these myself as snacks before dance classes when tea was going to be late. They really kept me going, are very filling and most importantly delicious.

In the coming weeks these bars will be tweaked a number of ways for new exciting breakfasts and snacks. I have an idea involving apples, raisins and hazelnuts, if they turn out well I will be posting that recipe here very soon.