Toasted Muesli

We’ve been making our own muesli for a very long time: a good combination of organic oats, bran, nuts, seeds and a variety of dried fruits. Add a little milk or yoghurt and its a breakfast that delivers and keeps you full until lunch.
No need for that mid morning snack that toast, or shop bought cereals leave you craving.  But what happens when you want to change it up a bit. You want something different: a different flavour, more crunch.  A granola kind of version was the first idea. The clusters of oats and extra crunch sounded like a winner. It still involved throwing everything in a bowl, and the short cooking time made it promising, but the things you add to make granola: coconut oil, honey, salt, just didn’t work for me. Not quite what I was after. So I kept looking and stumbled upon Jools Oliver’s granola recipe. A little tweaking gave me just what I was looking for. It doesn’t have the oat clusters of granola, but it does make a fine toasted muesli. Yay! Breakfast is once again a meal to look forward to.

There are no quantities given below because making muesli is all about what you want to add. Start with the oats and add the amount of the other dry ingredients that make you happy. Vary the nuts, seeds, thickness of coconut, and dried fruits. There is no right or wrong. If in doubt, check out the original Muesli recipe for a little guidance .

• 1 kg organic rolled oats
• almonds
• pepitas
• sunflower seeds
• shredded coconut
• dried apricots, chopped
• dried cranberries
• sultanas
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Place oats in a large bowl.

Add almonds and sunflower seeds.

Add pepitas.

Throw in some coconut.

Add 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon.

Mix together.

Add 1/2 cup of maple syrup and stir well to coat everything.

Place a thin layer of mixture on a lined baking tray.

This quantity usually calls for 3 trays. Place in the oven and cook for 8 minutes.

When the timer buzzes, stir the oat mixture around and flatten out again. Cook for another 8 minutes.

Stir again, and cook for another 8 minutes. Its important to keep an eye on it because you don’t want it to burn. I also rotate the trays every time I stir the mixture so that it toasts evenly.

When its done, it will be lovely and golden.

Remove from the oven.

Leave to cool while you chop the apricots.

Put the oat mixture back in the bowl. Use the paper you lined the trays with to make it easier.

 

Add the sultanas, apricots and cranberries.

Stir well. Leave to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container.