Homemade Muesli:

I have been a bad blogger the last few days, being too wrapped up with life things to find time to sit down and type! To make matters worse, I feel that I have been an equally bad nutritionist! I found the cutest little cans of Coca Cola Classic while out shopping the other day and have been enjoying them more than I'd like to admit, tisk tisk. Plus, we were gifted a lovely box of Sugar Bliss cupcakes the night before last, of which we already made a significant dent (though we did have help from friends). And the six boxes of girl scout cookies that I ordered a few weeks back showed up today. Lucky for me, I have a healthy treat on hand to ease me off of the sugar streak and back to my normal 5 a day routine: a tasty batch of home made Muesli!

While traveling around New Zealand last year, my fiance introduced me to Muesli for the first time. I have to admit, I didn't love it right off the bat. Is it an untoasted granola? Is it an uncooked oatmeal? Yes. Don't get me wrong, I love nuts, seeds, oats and dried fruits, but mixing them in a bowl without any sweeteners or previous toasting just seemed far too "hippie chic" for me. After a few weeks (and apparent lack of sugar cereal in the entire country of New Zealand) I realized that I was actually starting to like it and looked forward to dragging myself out of our tent to enjoy a bowl at dawn.

Since returning to the states, my honey and I have been searching far and wide (literally, we've driven from California to Maine and everywhere in between) and have been dismally unsuccessful at finding a prepackaged Muesli worth waking up at dawn for. So, we vowed to source out the best ingredients possible to make out own! The ingredient searching wasn't too difficult, since we have lived near a whole foods for the last 3+ years (thanks, bulk bins!), and we soon learned that the mixing it up part wasn't too difficult either. Though a good Muesli can be made with any combination of oats, seeds, nuts, fruits and most any other yummy health-nut thing you can think of, I have had great success that last two weeks with this recipe:

I have found that there is nothing quite as filling as a bowl of homemade Muesli first thing in the morning, whether it's sprinkled on fresh yoghurt or topped with raw milk. I have also been playing around with a recipe for Muesli cookies, which manage to be chewy, cakey, crispy and crunchy all at the same time (could there be a better cookie!?). They are the ultimate oat cookie for any oatmeal raisin cookie fan.


Muesli Cookies

1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly browned

1/4 + 2 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 scraped vanilla bean innards

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup museli


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a sauce pan, melt and slightly brown the butter, add the sugars and let it dissolve.

3. Add butter/sugar mixture to an electric mixer and begin to beat to cool.

4. Once the butter has cooled to a reasonable temperature (you be the judge), add the egg and vanilla innards, beat well.

5. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, oats and museli, mix well and then add to the electric mixer, beat until just combined.

6. Drop dough by rounded tbsp onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

7. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for one minute on the cookie sheet and then move to a wire rack. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.


Makes approximately two Baker's dozen, i.e. 26 cookies (my name sake measurement, thank you).


Enjoy.

(Note: I adapted this recipe from the best known source for oatmeal raisin cookies: Quaker Oats.)