Having mastered the art of the basic buckini, I’ve moved on to bigger and better things!

Prompted by my daughter’s kit list for an upcoming Guide camp , which included BYO breakfast cereal, I got to work on creating a delicious breakfast combo that would put Cornflakes and Rice Bubbles in the shade. I think I succeeded ;-).

Ingredients:

2 cups raw buckwheat groats
1 tbsp organic blackstrap molasses
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp date syrup*
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
2 tbsp finely chopped dates
2 tbsp sultanas
2 tbsp hulled hemp seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Method:

Place buckwheat in a large bowl, cover well with filtered water and soak overnight. In the morning, transfer buckwheat to a fine strainer and rinse well. Put the rinsed buckwheat back in the bowl, cover with fresh water and soak for another 8 hours or so.

Rinse in strainer once again, then tip the buckwheat back into the bowl and stir in the molasses, maple and date syrups, coconut, dried fruit and seeds.

Spread mixture out on dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 37°C overnight, or spread on baking sheets lined with baking paper and place in the oven, set at the lowest temperature and with the door ajar.

Serve with plant milk and fresh fruit as a breakfast cereal, or as a nut-free snack for kids’ lunchboxes.

Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

*You can buy ready-made date syrup from specialty grocers, or make your own: just place pitted dates in a saucepan, cover with water, bring the water to the boil and simmer for 30-60 minutes, depending on how hard the dates are. When dates are mushy, remove from the heat, cool, then transfer to a food processor and blend until smooth. Store leftovers in the fridge.