These Blood Orange Parfaits are made with cashew cream and combine with oats, pomegranate seeds and chocolate quinoa brittle for one tasty and surprisingly healthy dessert!
Oh my gosh you guys I am BEYOND excited to share these blood oranges parfaits with you! You know how I play favorite with my recipes? Yeah well this is one of my favorites for sure. I consider it to be a dessert, but Miguel thinks it could be kind of breakfast-y too, and we all know the best kind of recipes can be eaten interchangeably between breakfast and dessert.
I’d known for awhile that I wanted to make a parfait with quinoa brittle in it (rather than traditional granola), but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be the main substance. It couldn’t be yogurt, and for the first time ever I didn’t want to use mascarpone cheese (say WHAAAAT?!), so cashew cream was the obvious third and best choice.
The thing I love most about cashew cream is that it’s so gosh darn (<—“gosh darn” who am I?) versatile! You can use it for pie or bars and even as the base of a dessert/breakfast parfait! I opted to use blood oranges because I thought it’d be super pink; sadly, it’s more of a subtle light pink—still pretty though! Also because I maybe bought two large bags of blood oranges two weeks ago and I really needed to use them up.
Ok so the blood orange cashew cream takes all of five minutes to make—the trick is to have some soaked cashews on hand. Once you have that, you’re pretty much good to go. Besides the cashew cream, this parfait has CHOCOLATE quinoa brittle, which takes all of five minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to bake in the oven. It’s crunchy perfection! Then, last but not least, I added some plain old fashioned oats for texture, along with some pomegranate seeds and chopped dark chocolate for flavor. I’ll admit those ingredients are optional—the true star is simply the cashew cream+quinoa brittle.
For the quinoa brittle, I recommend baking it for 15 minutes and then placing the entire baking sheet in the freezer until the brittle hardens. That way, you can break it into pieces, brittle-style!
I really, really, really hope you give these blood orange parfaits a try! Oh!! The best part? Even if blood oranges aren’t in season, you can still use regular oranges/your favorite fruit that pairs well with chocolate. Enjoy!
Cashew Cream Blood Orange Parfaits
- For the parfait:
- 1½ cups soaked cashews
- 2 tbsp water
- ½ tsp orange zest
- Juice of 2 blood oranges*
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- For the brittle:
- 1 cup uncooked white quinoa
- ½ cup old fashioned oats
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 2 tbsp cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- Chocolate drizzle (optional):
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp cacao
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- For the cashew cream: Place all ingredients into a blender and pulse until smooth. You want the mixture to be fairly thick, but if you’re having trouble mixing it, add 1 additional tbsp of water; set aside.
- For the brittle: preheat oven to 350°.
- Melt coconut oil in microwave or over stovetop; set aside.
- Combine quinoa, oats, almonds, cacao, and chia seeds together in a large bowl; add coconut oil and syrup and stir to combine.
- Pour quinoa onto a baking sheet and use a spatula to smooth mixture out. You want it to be fairly thin. Bake brittle for 15 minutes or until edges have turned slightly darker in color.
- Remove from oven and set aside.
- For the chocolate drizzle: combine ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl or in a saucepan over stovetop; stirring occasionally until chocolate has melted. Drizzle mixture overtop of brittle and then place baking sheet in the freezer for at least 1 hour or until brittle has hardened.
- To assemble: Scoop a spoonful of oats on the bottom of each glass; add the cashew cream and quinoa brittle and then top the parfait with pomegranate seeds and chopped dark chocolate (optional).
- Enjoy!
*Feel free to add a third blood orange if you want mixture to have a stronger orange flavor.
**Serving size depends on how far you fill up the cups. The recipe will fill two cups or, you can fill a few different cups up half way like I did in the photos. Up to you!
***If you don’t add the chocolate drizzle over the quinoa brittle, I recommend adding 1 more tbsp of cacao to the brittle–you want it to be chocoalte-y enough!
