Hazelnut overnight oat cups

I’m saying goodbye to January with these hazelnut overnight oat cups, layered with salted date caramel, and hazelnut butter. Life is good when this is breakfast.

It’s almost the end of the longest month in the history of time. Seriously, this month has felt like forever! A cold, hard January calls for extra yummy breakfasts. When there’s no summer berries and the cupboards are bare, it’s time to get creative with what I have left. One thing I always have a tonne of is oats. I usually have a 10kg bag in the garage. It sounds excessive and to be honest, it probably is, but when times are hard, oats can make milk, porridge, flapjacks, biscuits, flour and these cute wee breakfast pots (I also like to think that should the worst happen and world war three breaks out, I’ll have enough food to see us through until at least 2020).

Prep a batch of this the night before you want to eat it. I usually make the nut butter in the morning, when the hazelnuts have fully cooled. If you can manage your time better than me, you could definitely make the nut butter in the evening too- just be sure to let those nuts cool fully, your blender will thank you. The date caramel probably makes more than you need (although the cups pictured are super dainty), so you’ll have plenty left to spread on toast, pancakes or ice cream…mmmm.

Hazelnut overnight oats

• 3/4 cup oats
• 1.5 cups nut mylk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp hazelnut butter
• 2 tbsp chia seeds (I use Organic Burst chia)

Hazelnut butter

• 2 cups hazelnuts
• 1 tsp salt

Salted date caramel

• 1 cup dates, pitted
• 1 tsp salt (I prefer pink himalayan salt)
• 1/2 cup boiling water

1. If you’re making your own hazelnut butter- preheat oven to 180•c and lay 2 cups of whole hazelnuts flat on a baking tray. Roast until golden and fragrant, about 12-15 minutes, check on them half way through to make sure they aren’t burning.
2. Allow to cool fully. Pour hazelnuts into a clean tea towel, wrap the sides up and roll them around on the counter to remove the skins. Don’t worry if you can’t get them all off, but less skins make for a smoother texture. Add to blender, along with salt and start off blending slowly, after 7-8 minutes it should be getting runny. Keep going until pourable. Store in a clean jar. No need to rinse out your blender- it will help with the next step.
3. To make the overnight oats – add nut mylk, chia, vanilla and hazelnut butter into your (hopefully still sticky) blender and pulse briefly to combine. Now add the mixture to your oats and stir through with a spoon. The mixture should be quite runny at this stage- add a little more mylk if you need to- the chia seeds will soak up all the liquid. Leave in a large jar overnight.
4. Before you go to bed, add your dates to a small bowl and cover with water. This will help soften and plump them up for the caramel.
5. In the morning, drain your dates. Save this sweet water for smoothies or oatmeal, it’s delicious. Add drained, pitted dates, salt and boiling water, a little at a time, to your blender and combine until smooth and gooey.
6. Layer your jars with salted date caramel, hazelnut overnight oats and hazelnut butter. Garnish with banana coins and crushed hazelnuts.