The ultimate muesli
I’ve always been a cereal guy so having the perfect muesli recipe for weekday morning breakfasts is pretty much a necessity, and after reading this, you just might turn into a cereal guy, or girl, too!
When I say I’ve always been a cereal guy, I mean I started out as a cereal kid. And when I say cereal, I’m talkin’ Fruit Loops, Frankenberry, Lucky Charms, Cap’n Crunch… you know, all those wholesome, low sugar, best-way-to-start-your-day kids’ cereals. Ha! Almost got your there, didn’t I? Wholesome, low sugar – who am I kiddin’?! It’s truly amazing the stuff that’s actually in these “foods”. First off, sugar. When you think about it, it’s no wonder there are so many kids flying around at hyperspeed after spooning in all that sugar (nearly 1000 teaspoons a year, if they eat one bowl of cereal a day!) first thing in the morning.
Then we have all those wonderful colors – red 40, blue 2, yellow 6, blue 1, and then there’s something called BHT “for freshness.” Wanna know what BHT is? It’s a petroleum-based antioxidant. Yeah, that’s right, petroleum. Yum!
No artificial flavors or colors here.
So you can imagine my surprise, when I tried my grandfather’s favorite cereal, Grape-Nuts, and thought it tasted like sticks and tree bark – blahhhh! I was amazed at how he could eat the stuff, thinking that he was the healthiest guy in the world, had five stomachs like a cow, or else he was so old that all the taste had long since gone out of his taste buds.
Somewhere along the line, as I started growing older and more mature, haha, I graduated to Raisin Bran. And then, with the cereal bowl rolling, it wasn’t long before I went on to try granola and muesli. Ah muesli, that’s what I’m supposed to be writing about!
The first muesli was developed sometime around 1900 by the Swiss-German doctor Maximillian Bircher-Benner (sounds like a bad guy from an old James Bond movie, if you ask me). Old Max wanted to give his patients something healthy to eat every morning to go along with the other fresh fruit and vegetable dishes that were an integral part of his therapy.
The word müesli is derived from the Germanic mues, meaning “mashed”, which is a similar word in other Northern European languages: mos in Swedish, mus in Polish, and muusi in Finnish – gotta love the Finns with their extra vowels and cute-sounding “i” endings. There’s even the Old English word moose, which had the same meaning, before we started using it to refer to the largest member of the deer family, and Bullwinkle. But hey, I’m getting off track here (and we’re not eating animals, remember?)
This magnificent muesli is modern, moose-free, and packed with all kinds of superfoods to help you start off your day on the right foot! There’s no refined sugar and only a little natural sweetness, whole grains containing essential nutrients and vitamins, nuts and seeds full of protein and omega-3, it’s high in fiber, filling and most important of all – it tastes grrrrrreat! (Anyone get the Tony reference there? 😉 )
There might be an ingredient or two that you haven’t heard of before, but this recipe is easily tweakable, whether you are trying to keep it simple, gluten-free or well, slightly less healthy! I won’t tell anyone – promise.
Be sure not to miss my oat/almond milk recipe.
Ingredients
- ½ Cup (1.2 dl) - almonds
- 3 Cups (7.2 dl) - rolled spelt (or rolled oats to make this gluten-free*)
- 1 Cup (2.4 dl) - shredded coconut
- ½ Cup (1.2 dl) - sunflower seeds
- ½ Cup (1.2 dl) - pumpkin seeds
- ½ Cup (1.2 dl) - hazelnuts
- ¼ Cup (.6 dl) - sesame seeds
- 3 Tbsps (45 ml) - coconut oil
- ¼ Cup (.6 dl) - apple juice/cider (no added sugar)
- ¼ Cup (.6 dl) - maple syrup (or agave, rice syrup or similar sweetener)
- 1 tsp (5 ml) - cinnamon
- 1 tsp (5 ml) - vanilla extract (or roughly ½ tsp vanilla powder if you don't have the liquid form where you live)
- ½ Cup (1.2 dl) - puffed buckwheat (or other puffed grain, such as quinoa, millet or rice)
- 1 Cup (2.4 dl) - corn flakes* (or bran flakes)
- 3 x ½ Cup (1.2 dl) - raisins, goji berries, mullberries (or cranberries, blueberries etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F/150°C
- Chop the almonds.
- Pour the almonds, spelt, coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts and sesame seeds in a large bowl.
- Melt the coconut oil in the microwave and pour it and the other wet ingredients (apple juice, maple syrup, vanilla) into the bowl, along with the cinnamon.
- Mix well and spread evenly onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Heat for 30 minutes, stirring the mixture after every 10 minutes. (Alternatively, split the mixture between two baking sheets and switch the higher/lower sheets after 15 mins.)
- Remove the roasted nuts and grains from the oven and let cool.
- Add the three remaining ingredients (the puffed buckwheat, flakes and fruit/berries.) and store in a airtight jar.
Maria January 22, 2016 (2:18 pm)
This sounds so yummy, I’m gonna try it asap 🙂
Neil January 22, 2016 (6:03 pm)
Actually, with the right berries and fruits, you can ditch the sweetners. Chopped dates, f’rinstance. 🙂
Chris January 22, 2016 (7:57 pm)
That’s true, Neil. Dates are a popular sweetener! Here, a little liquid sweetness works well as you can spread it around a bit and coat some of the grains.
Joanne Salerno Spizzirri January 23, 2016 (12:46 am)
Hi Chris!
This is great! Love the writing (your voice really comes through like I remember it!) and the recipe is great too! I can’t wait to try it!
Chris January 23, 2016 (10:54 am)
Thanks a lot Joanne! I’m so happy you can “hear” me from all the way in Canada 🙂 Great to hear you are going to try out the recipe, too!