Breakfast Tiramisu | Tin and Thyme

Breakfast tiramisu pots have all the coffee, cocoa and creamy layers you’d expect from tiramisu, but with oats and chia seeds in place of sponge. Lightly sweetened coffee-soaked oats are layered with whipped vanilla cottage cheese, then dusted with cocoa powder. And there’s no need to leave them overnight. Just pour hot coffee over the oats and they’re ready to eat in ten minutes.

Tiramisu for breakfast? Yes please, says CT. Luckily, my take on this classic Italian dessert is not only delicious, but also super healthy, making it entirely suitable for morning consumption.

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Dive Right In

Why This Breakfast Tiramisu Recipe Works

• Ready in 10 minutes – Hot coffee softens the oats almost instantly, so there’s no need to leave them soaking overnight. It’s absolutely fine to do so if it suits you, however.
• Tiramisu for breakfast – Coffee, cocoa and creamy vanilla layers give you all the familiar flavours of tiramisu, with oats and chia seeds making it breakfast-worthy.
• Naturally sweetened – Date molasses add a rich, caramel-like sweetness to the coffee-soaked oats without the need for refined sugar.
• Creamy protein-rich layer – Whipped cottage cheese makes a smooth, vanilla-scented topping that contrasts beautifully with the coffee oats.
• Easy to make ahead – Scale the recipe up and make a batch at the start of the week and keep the pots covered in the fridge for instant breakfasts. They’re also ideal for taking to work or eating on the go when layered into sealed containers.

Tiramisu Breakfast Pots

I’m not too keen on overly sweet stuff first thing in the morning. This breakfast tiramisu hits the spot though as it’s only lightly sweetened and tastes almost savoury. The salty creamy cheese makes a great foil for the complex and slightly bitter coffee notes.

The recipe is quite flexible. You can make it the night before needed as you would classic overnight oats, or use it for meal prep and keep several ready-to-go pots in the fridge. However, it works really well as an almost instant breakfast too. Brew your coffee, soak the oats, whip the cheese, layer up and tuck in – all within ten minutes.

The key is to use hot coffee, not warm coffee, but hot. The heat causes the oats to soak up the liquid almost instantly.

Whether you call these pots oat pudding, overnight oats, breakfast pots or just breakfast tiramisu, they make for a deliciously healthy breakfast.

Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions

Apart from the cheese, this recipe is made with store cupboard staples, so it’s easy to whip up at a moment’s notice.

Cocoa

You can’t have tiramisu without a good dusting of cocoa powder. I prefer to use cacao powder as it’s less processed than dutched cocoa and retains more of the cacao bean’s beneficial nutrients.

Coffee

Use your favourite coffee and make it as strong or weak as you like. Caffeinated or decaf are both fine.

One of our favourites is puro coffee and I make it in a cafetière.

Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese not only gives a creamy, almost savoury, layer to this breakfast tiramisu, but it’s particularly high in protein. Combined with the oats, one of these pots is likely to fill you up and keep you feeling full until lunchtime.

For the creamiest experience opt for a 4% cottage cheese. The lower the fat the less smooth and tasty your whipped cottage cheese will be.

Oats

Rolled porridge oats (quick oats) are what’s needed for this recipe. As per my post on the different types of oats, porridge oats are quite fine and soak up hot liquid quickly.

If you prefer a chewier experience, use jumbo oats instead of porridge oats. If you do this, you’ll need to soak the oats for longer than the time stated in the recipe.

Sweetener

Date molasses (affiliate link), sometimes called date honey, date syrup or dibs, is a thick dark concentrate made purely from pressed cooked dates. It’s similar to blackstrap molasses in both colour and texture, hence the name. But it has more of a honeyed caramel flavour profile and isn’t bitter like molasses, which can sometimes overpower other flavours.

The glycemic index is lower than refined sugar, but most importantly it’s rich in iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium and antioxidants.

It’s well worth a place in your store cupboard, but you can replace it with dark maple syrup or dark agave syrup if necessary.

Vanilla extract gives sweet notes to the salty cottage cheese, but if you’d prefer some real sweetness, add a little honey as well.

How To Make Breakfast Tiramisu

Only basic equipment is required for this recipe – apart from something to whip up the cottage cheese, that is.

Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact method and quantities of ingredients used.

Step 1. Brew Coffee

If you drink coffee first thing in the morning, just make a bit extra and you’re good to go. Otherwise, get the kettle on. I use a cafetière.

Step 2. Soak Oats

Put the oats into a heatproof mixing bowl and pour the hot coffee over the top. They should soak the coffee up quite quickly.

Pour the chia seeds into the bowl and give a quick stir.

Spoon in the date molasses and stir again until everything is well mixed. Leave to soak for a few minutes whilst you prepare the cheese layer.

Step 3. Whip Cheese

Whilst the oats and chia seeds are soaking, whip up the cottage cheese. Do this in a mini food processor or with a handheld blender along with the vanilla extract and honey, if using.

Blend until completely smooth and creamy. It should only take a few seconds, but scrape the sides down if you need to and blend again.

Step 4. Layer Up

Grab two tall glasses, jam jars or clip-top jars and divide half of the oat mixture between them.

Next spoon a quarter of the cottage cheese mix over the top of each one.

Top the cheese with the remaining oats followed by the remaining cheese.

Dust the tops with the cocoa powder and either eat straight away or leave for up to thirty minutes for the tiramisu to set.

Make Ahead

Cover and store these breakfast tiramisu pots in the fridge where they’ll keep well for several days. This makes them ideal if you want to prepare your morning meals for the week ahead.

Take the pots out of the fridge at least thirty minutes before eating to take the chill off and let the flavours develop. For breakfast on the go, make them in small jars with secure lids.

Other Healthy Breakfast Recipes You Might Like

Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these breakfast tiramisu pots, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for making tiramisu inspired healthy breakfasts?

Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I really enjoy seeing your take on my recipes.

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If you’d like more coffee recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Breakfast Tiramisu. PIN IT.

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