I’ll admit it. This morning my eldest had Party Rings for breakfast.

Usually she’s a Cheerios or oatmeal kind of girl – maybe even an organic protein shake – but today we flew out of the door after waking up late.

Breakfast was half a packet of cookies she found in the car. Gosh, not a very nutritious start to the day although of course she was delighted.

If you don’t know them, Party Rings are those brightly coloured iced cookies that are – you guessed it – ring-shaped. They are thoroughly refined but work their way into our house (or the car!) because the frosting is dye-free.

Dye-free was always a big win for me when the kids were little, as I struggled to find options they thought were fun, for the occasional treat without the harmful chemicals. British products are much more likely than US products to be naturally coloured as legally, they have to disclose artificial dyes as being potentially harmful on the front of the packet.

What kind of harm are we talking about? The most common reaction is hyperactivity or headaches. Large doses of red 40 have also been associated with tumour growth in animal studies – but we are talking large doses. (Although that always made me cringe when it came to children’s Tylenol.)

These days for the most part and aside from a trip down memory lane, we have cookies that I’ve made at home. When I find a hit, I have to be careful not to make them too often as otherwise the boredom creeps in. So it was then that I found myself making Holy Crap cookies after quite a long break and the kids were delighted. “I’d forgotten how good these were!!” Ah the sweet words of appreciation from a teen.

Holy Crap is a chia-seed based cereal found at Miles Market exclusively. Chia is rich in bioavailable Omega 3 and the product as a whole packs a punch when it comes to plant-based protein and fibre (hence the cheeky name). Many products have come and gone in an attempt to surpass this one, but Holy Crap really has stood the test of time. I also love its rags to riches story, beginning as a homemade brand sold at a farmer’s market.

The only thing is – I never actually use it as cereal. It’s pretty unexciting if you just have it with milk. It’s much better baked into a cookie! And by taking up flour space with chia seed, you reduce the carbs and lower the glycemic load. My recipe below is packed with almond flour and eggs too – so the protein, fibre and overall nutrition outstrips a Party Ring by a million paces!

I’ve also found two other amazing uses for this: it can help liven up oatmeal or, stir it into yoghurt (organic Greek or vegan coconut) for a brilliant overnight oats kind of breakfast. If you do the latter, I would mix ½ cup plain yoghurt with 2 tbsps Holy Crap. Pop it in a glass and top it with berries. Store overnight in the fridge for three days. It makes a really easy breakfast on the go!

If you’d like to try the cookies before you buy the ingredients to make them yourselves, then they are available at the Miles Godiva café (the health challenge is just not to buy any Godiva while you are there). The cereal itself is found on the gluten-free aisle. This recipe is gluten- and dairy-free so it’s a big hit with people who have those kind of allergies. Let me know how you go and – enjoy!

Holy Crap cookies

(Makes 12 for breakfast or 20 snack size)

INGREDIENTS

½ cup extra virgin coconut oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup Sucanat (unrefined cane sugar)

2 cups almond flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp baking soda

5 tbsp Holy Crap® cereal

1 cup Eden organic dried Montmorency tart cherries, dried blueberries or organic raisins

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

2. Whisk together the first three ingredients (wet) in a small bowl.

3. Stir together the rest of the ingredients (dry) in a large bowl. Blend well.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir. When you can't stir any longer, roll your sleeves up and kneed the ingredients together into a moist dough.

5. Roll the mixture into large balls (the mix should make about 14) and flatten in your palm. Place on the cookie sheet with at least an inch between cookies.

6. Bake in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes, until lightly golden.

7. Cool and store in the fridge.

Catherine Burns is a qualified nutritional therapist. For more details: www.natural.bm, 505-4725, Natural Nutrition Bermuda on Facebook and @naturalbda on Instagram