Reposting this one because it’s been on our breakfast rotation for twenty-two years and shows no signs of leaving.

This recipe was born 23 years ago, in the first trimester of my pregnancy with my eldest. When everything except fresh fruit and yogurt made me nauseous. Every morning, before I left for work at TBWA\Chiat\Day, my husband would wake up with me and put together a bowl of yogurt and fruit.

One morning we only had yogurt and apples. To make it more substantial, he threw in some walnuts. It was unexpectedly satisfying — the kind of combination that makes you wonder why you never thought of it before. We adopted it immediately and shortened the name to YAW: yogurt, apple, walnuts. For years, whenever I asked my boys what they wanted for breakfast, the answer was always YAW.

Twenty-two years later, our youngest, eighteen now, makes it every night as a late-night snack. It’s only three ingredients, but for it to be truly epic, the details matter.

The Ingredients

The yogurt must be full-fat whole milk. The apples hotel-mattress firm. The walnuts raw, fresh, premium, and intact.

Any apple works, as long as it’s crunchy, and preferably on the tart side. You can try it with different nuts.

To make fancy: add a teaspoon of high-quality extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of crushed dried rosemary. It tasted like something a Greek God would eat for breakfast.

The ratio

is something you’ll need to figure out for yourself. My youngest likes more apple and walnuts, less yogurt. My husband and sons add a drizzle of honey. I like my apple cubes swimming in yogurt with just a small handful of walnuts. I don’t need honey. My yogurt of choice is Stonyfield organic plain whole milk.

Now go make it and tell me what you think.

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