I am not a breakfast cereal person — I hate the texture and the lack of variation on a daily basis. These biscuits are my solution to having a choice for breakfast: all the nutrition of my morning muesli in an alternative form.  They have loads of plant points, keep me full until lunch, and are built entirely from ingredients I have in the house. A rye sourdough starter adds gut-friendly tang and lightness, the psyllium and LSA give sustained release energy, and the dates and molasses bring depth without refined sugar. I make them at 60g each — one with a coffee is a good breakfast, and they freeze beautifully.

They use my homemade breakfast muesli mix that I normally mix with kefir and fruit and leave to expand overnight and then eat with additional home-made granola, psyllium husks, and more kefir. It is really healthy and covers all sorts of “superfoods” but, as I said, I really don’t like cereal, especially as it’s getting colder. I’d much rather have a biscuit and a hot cup of tea, closely followed by a hot cup of coffee. One of these biscuits has all of the ingredients of my cereal breakfast, but with the addition of some almond flour and honey, but I have added molasses and spices to the recipe. With the addition of the psyllium and chia that I allow to soak to absorb liquid before stirring in the dry ingredients I have got something that holds together well. I make these biscuits about 5cm wide and 1 cm thick. One is enough for me for breakfast but others may need to have 2 or just make them bigger.

Smaller healthier biscuits

SOURDOUGH BREAKFAST BISCUITS

Soak — combine and rest 30 minutes while doing more prep.

  • 75g seeded breakfast mix (hemp seeds, chia, LSA, flaxseed, nigella)
  • 30g psyllium husks
  • 30g LSA
  • 50ml kefir, milk, or yoghurt

Wet ingredients

  • 200g pitted dates
  • 150ml boiling water
  • 3 eggs (approximately 150g)
  • 10g blackstrap molasses
  • 120g honey
  • 120g coconut oil, light olive oil, or melted butter or a combination
  • 10g vanilla extract
  • 120g active sourdough starter, rye-based at 100% hydration (discard works fine)

Dry ingredients

  • 200g almond meal
  • 50g stoneground white baker’s flour
  • 130g mixed nuts and/or seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, chopped almonds)
  • 50g coconut flakes
  • 120g dried fruit (sultanas, cranberries) or dark chocolate chips
  • 10g baking powder
  • 5g cinnamon
  • Pinch of nutmeg
  • Pinch of Celtic salt

Method

  1. Combine the muesli mix, psyllium, LSA, and kefir in a bowl. Stir well and set aside to soak for 30 minutes. These ingredients need time to absorb liquid before they hit the rest of the mix.
  2. Halve the dates and check each one for seeds. Combine with the boiling water in a microwave-safe jug. Microwave on high for 3 minutes, then set aside to cool.
  3. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  4. Blend the cooled date mixture in a food processor until smooth. Add the eggs, molasses, honey, oil, vanilla, and sourdough starter and pulse until well combined.
  5. Add the soaked muesli, psyllium, and LSA mixture to the processor and pulse gently to just combine.
  6. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until evenly combined.
  7. Preheat oven to 150°C fan. Line two trays with baking paper.
  8. Use a large ice-cream scoop to portion 60g biscuits onto the trays. They don’t spread, so they can sit fairly close together. There will be abouty25. Flatten each one down to about 1cm thick with the back of a wet spoon, tidy up the edges.
  9. Bake on the middle and lower racks for 20 minutes, then rotate trays front to back and top to bottom. Bake for a further 10 minutes until the edges are noticeably browned.
  10. Remove from the oven and leave on the trays to cool. Once they are partly set, turn them over to allow the bases to finish cooling. They firm significantly as they cool.
  11. Store airtight for a few days at room temperature, or freeze individually then stack into a container.

Notes

This recipe makes approximately 25 biscuits at 60g each. One biscuit is a satisfying breakfast; freeze the rest and defrost overnight or quickly in the microwave, but they can be eaten straight from the freezer.

The soak is the key step — psyllium, the chia in the muesli mix and LSA need time to hydrate before they can do their binding work. Don’t skip it or rush it.

The sourdough starter adds subtle tang, improves digestibility, and lightens the texture. A rye-based starter works particularly well here alongside the stoneground flour. Discard is fine.

If you substitute part of the almond meal with other flours increase the fat to 150g.

Coconut flakes give better texture than desiccated coconut but they toast slightly during baking and add a noticeable bite. Keep an eye on them from the 20-minute mark.

Blackstrap molasses adds iron, calcium, and depth. Don’t skip it in favour of extra honey — they’re doing different jobs.

 

Breakfast biscuits