Recipe: Jaffa chia pudding

No it isn't a trick. It's not even a joke - chocolate can be healthy! And we all know by now that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, therefore it makes sense to make sure the most important meal of the day is healthy, and if chocolate is healthy well, you should probably do the right thing and have it for breakfast - it just.makes.sense.

In all seriousness though, raw, unprocessed cacao powder is positively bursting with antioxidants and magnesium. Antioxidants are crucial to help reduce inflammation within the body which is a big part of all of our lives in todays age of sedentary living, increased reliance on technology, and over-consumption of processed food.

We need magnesium in the body for growth and repair, but it's also a fantastic relaxant - both for smooth and skeletal muscle, as well as the nervous system (there is some fact to chocolate being good for stress reduction!)

However I have to come clean and tell you that those weren't the things on my mind when I began dreaming about this recipe, not at all. They're just happy coincidences. What was on my mind was jaffas and decadence and I have delivered those two things in spades. No, there's no little red choc-orange balls hiding in the pudding but this is still a fantastic recipe either as a larger portion for brekky, or even a smaller portion as a sweet and tasty after-dinner snack, if you're into that kind of thing (if you're not we probably can't be friends, just saying).

The recipe is best made the night before.

Recipe (serves two, generously)

2 oranges, zested and then peeled and cut into small segments (reserve the zest!)

1 heaped tbs raw cacao powder

165 mls coconut milk (one of the baby tins)

70 mls water

4 pitted dates, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes (2 dates is enough if you're using medjools)

3 tbsp chia seeds

2 tbsp linseeds

1/2 cup rolled oats

Method

Into a blender, place half of the orange and half of the zest, as well as the cacao powder, coconut milk, water, and dates, whizz until smooth.

In a mixing bowl, combine the chia seeds, linseeds, rolled oats, and remaining orange and orange zest.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the chia seed mixture and stir until well combined. Measure out even quantities into separate bowls and store in the fridge until you're ready to eat.