Made-at-home breakfast parfaits offer great freedom for cooks who are then able to make several key decisions for their own good, such as how much and what type of sugars to add; and which fresh fruits to use; and even the amount of fiber to include. These are all very important ingredients in this day and age. Furthermore, utilizing this creamy, bright yogurt mixture and honestly good-for-you, delicious muffin tops, make this fresh from the farm dish wonderfully-indulgent.

Commercially prepared breakfast parfaits are beautiful and are offered by almost every bakery, fast-food drive-thru, and hotel breakfast bar. (“When was this made?”) These offer little real nutrition since they are calorie and carb heavy.

It is easy to bring together the ingredients for a fiber-packed, vitamin rich, anti-oxidant loaded, and totally vivacious breakfast parfait at home.

Breakfast Parfait

Total (Make-Ahead) Preparation Time: 35 minutes

Assembly time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

4 Bran Muffin tops, each broken into bite sized chunks

1 pint fresh blueberries, slightly crushed

2 tablespoons agave syrup

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup organic Greek yogurt

3 tablespoons raw sugar

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

2 tablespoons oat-bran

Equipment needed:

4 sundae glasses

Muffin-top baking pan

Directions:

Bake the muffin-tops using any recipe for high fiber muffins or follow the recipe below. Allow these to cool completely, wrap in cling wrap, and stow in the refrigerator until needed--use within 24 hours for ultimate freshness.

Set aside 10-12 whole blueberries for garnish. Place the remaining blueberries in a deep bowl and slightly crush them to break the skins, add agave syrup, and stir. Set aside.

Pour cream into a deep bowl and whip until soft and fluffy, add yogurt, vanilla, and sugar to the whipped cream and mix gently, being careful not to remove the volume of the whipped cream.

Zest one lemon to make approximately 2 tsp. fresh zest, add to the cream mixture, and stir.

Break the muffin tops into bite sized pieces or cut with a serrated knife.

Assembling the parfaits:

Place 1/4 cup sweetened blueberries in the bottom of each glass.

Add half of one muffin top on top of blueberries

Drop 1/4 cup cream mixture on the muffin

Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp. oat bran over the cream mixture

Repeat the layers, except oat-bran.

Top each complete parfait with big juicy blueberries.

Assemble these in paper cups with lids for easy “to go” eating.

Quick & Easy Bran Muffins

(Recipe-adapted from a boxed baking mix)

2 cups baking mix (such as Bisquick)

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons oil

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2/3 cup bran cereal

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. real vanilla

Combine milk, oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cereal in a medium sized bowl. Stir to incorporate and allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Add the baking mix and oil; stir 10-12 times to mix well.

According to Epicurious.com, it takes around a ½ cup batter to fill each muffin-top cup--bake in a 350 degree F oven for 18-20 minutes. Cool completely before using in these breakfast parfaits.