Dessert for Breakfast: Cashew Chia Pudding from Cafe Guest Michelle Karl

Dessert for Breakfast: Cashew Chia Pudding – Michelle Karl

Thank you so much to Yankee Belle Café and Cate Nolan for hosting me today!

Now, I am not a morning person. I’m one of those people who needs to set two alarms: one next to the bed and one on the other side of the room that forces me to get up to turn it off. Often, I’ll set a third alarm too, by which I mean I tell my husband “make sure I’m up by 7:30am” or the like.

Guess how many times I still hit the snooze button? Guess how many times my husband has to come into the room and “wake me up” before I finally tumble out of bed moaning for coffee like a brain-starved zombie?

If you guessed any number greater than two, you win—and uh, I guess I lose. Anyway, what this means is I’m always running behind in the mornings, and I’m one of those people who absolutely needs to eat breakfast or else I’ll feel cruddy for the rest of the day. I need something for breakfast that will provide sustainable energy while also motivating me to actually eat it despite running behind.

Cue…chia pudding! Now, I know you’re going, “Michelle, we already know about chia pudding, it’s nothing new…dump some chia seeds into almond milk or coconut milk overnight and Bob’s your uncle.” Yes, yes. I, too, love myself a nut milk or coconut milk based chia pudding. But what if we could include all that fiber, all that protein, and still come out the other side with a delicious breakfast pudding?

One of my favorite food bloggers is Elana of Elana’s Pantry (https://elanaspantry.com/raw-tapioca-pudding/), and today I’m sharing one of her recipes that I use regularly. I had to try it to believe it could work, but once I made it…I was hooked.

It begins with one cup of raw cashews. Place them in a bowl of water and soak for a few hours (no longer) to soften. This will make the cashews soft enough to blend and become creamy. Discard the soaking water.

Elana’s recipe recommends three cups of water, but I found that made the dish too runny. I use a maximum of two cups filtered water. Add water and cashews to a blender. It will help to have a high-powered blender, but even a regular blender or food processor should be okay with soaked cashews.

Then I cheat, because the original recipe says to blend the cashews and water first before adding the other ingredients. Who has time for that? Go ahead and dump in your honey (I use raw), vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Blend. Oooh, frothy!

 

 

 

Pour into a jar. I use an old honey jar because it’s the perfect size. Then I take my chia seeds, pour them in the jar on top (I add more than the quarter cup the original recipe calls for, because I prefer a denser pudding), replace the lid and shake! 

What I find is that because the cashews are much thicker than using a store-bought almond milk or coconut milk, the chia seeds don’t all sink to the bottom and clump up. I rarely have to shake it more than once before putting it into the fridge for the next day.

By the time morning comes, I have a delicious, creamy, dessert-like pudding for breakfast—you could even add some fresh berries, sliced almonds, or coconut flakes for some extra oomph. My husband eats this breakfast up almost as fast as I do—which is probably why he doesn’t complain too much if he has to wake me up five times before I crawl out of bed. Breakfast is already waiting!

I met Michelle when we sold to our mutual editor - the wondrously talented Emily Rodmell - through the Killer Voices contest. Michelle's second book is out this month.