The Most Indulgent Chocolate Pear and Almond Porridge

This is a good week, our resident chef the very talented Giovanna Ryan has been busy in her kitchen, conjuring up a new breakfast recipe just for us.

Now then, this is a porridge with a difference, one that will have you running to collect the ingredients and jumping out of bed like its Christmas morning. We are big porridge fans here, our lovely Grandad Donald ate a full bowl of hot porridge every single morning, before he put his teeth in! He lived a very long and active life well into his 90's (he also loved butter and cake so we are taking many leaves out of his "how to live a long life book"). We're not sure that Grandad would have agreed with the additions of chocolate and pear, but we cant think of many things better.

Giovanna is a Masterchef finalist. We've been working together for a year now, giving us a whole library of breakfast and brunch delights. This might be our favourite so far. Enjoy, and do let us know how you get on. You can meet Giovanna here and read a little about her.

Ingredients (for 3 bears and goldilocks)

300g rolled oats

400ml whole milk

100g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons almond butter

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

2 pears, peeled and chopped into cubes

2 tablespoons honey

Around 50g whole almonds, roughly chopped

Large pinch of salt

Add the porridge oats to a large, heavy bottomed pan with the milk. Cook over a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the oats are cooked through and you have a thick porridge. Add more milk if necessary, and remember to keep stirring for the perfect consistancy (Grandad's tip)

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate, cocoa powder, almond butter, brown sugar and salt. Stir to melt the chocolate until fully combined. Add the chopped pear pieces and divide between four bowls. Top with the chopped almonds and drizzle with honey.

I have a star shaped cutter, a few little stars on the top and everyone has a smile on their face.

Yum Yum Yum, sit back, or get back into bed, and enjoy.