FOOD BLOG: MUESLI COOKIES

 You can actually eat these for breakfast. Not that I'm publicising that point in my household, as it's hard enough keeping these around for a couple of days.

I'm very proud of these creations. Not only do they taste fantastic, they put to shame other muesli cookies. No butter, sugar or flour and just a moderate amount of honey to sweeten them.

I was inspired to dream up my own (along with these very similar muesli bars) after too many frustrating purchases where I thought I had gone for the healthy option and then discovered they were packed with sugar, butter, golden syrup, white flour - you may as well have bought a piece of cake for afternoon tea.

I've basically stayed true to muesli - my version at least - and then used peanut butter and tahini to bind it. Wheat-free, dairy-free, and low-fat healthy snacks that go down a treat with all ages.

After my muesli bars were born I experimented and threw in a couple of eggs. I now prefer these to the bars, but if you don't eat eggs the muesli bars are popular too.

 

 RECIPE: MUESLI COOKIES

3/4 cup of oil (I use rice bran but sunflower would work) or 100g coconut oil

5 Tablespoons honey

1/2 cup shredded coconut or desiccated coconut  

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup raisins/sultanas (use big juicy ones if you can) - optional

2 cups oats

4 Tablespoons peanut butter

1 Tablespoon tahini (If you can't get it just add 1 extra peanut butter)

2 eggs

 

 

Preheat oven to 180 c or 350 F. Grease two large, flat and preferably metal oven trays.

Melt oil and honey in small pot on low heat until just bubbling. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients in large bowl. 

 

Remove oil and honey from heat and stir peanut butter and then tahini through until smooth. Immediately mix it through dry ingredients until well combined. Add eggs and combine well.

Wet hands with hot water and roll large tablespoon lots into round cookies - run your hands under the hot tap regularly as this will really help form the cookies. Place on greased trays and flatten slightly with fork or back of spoon. They won't spread like other cookies as there is no raising agent, so you can place them fairly close together.

 

Bake until golden browned - approximately 20 minutes.  If, like me, you have a conventional oven you will need to swap the top shelf cookies with the lower shelf ones half way through. You also may need to cook them a bit longer to get the cookies nicely bronzed.

Place on wire rack to cool and store in airtight container. They keep well - but in our house last only a couple of days.

FOOD BLOG: MUESLI BARS

Little Patience: Watching the muesli bars cool down for eating

Our household practically keeps the manufacturer of a certain muesli bar, and muesli, in business.

And when we get caught out and about sans snacks (which happens far too often) muesli cookies are often the only 'healthy' option on offer. (Next up we'll have the recipe for the muesli cookies I just removed from the oven.)

So with muesli bars undoubtedly sitting at the top of Billie's favourite food list, I've been cooking them up in my head for some time now.

Finally last weekend Billie made it happen. 'Mum, can we make muesli bars?' 'How about we make something else - muffins, scones?' 'No. I wanna make muesli bars'. Okay, it's decided then.

I'm extremely happy with this recipe, made up on the go. I cooked them a little hot and fast the first time round - see blackened raisins above - but the taste was still superb.

If you have peanut allergies in the house then swap for another nut butter. If you're in a total nut-free zone then try a little more tahini and a little more honey. But really the peanut butter isn't that essential. (It just tastes great.)

Don't try and distribute and eat straight from the oven. Very crumbly. Wait an hour or so and they will set nicely. We rushed the hot muesli bars off to a gardening bee at our local Waverley Park Communal Gardens. The gardeners still enjoyed them though.

RECIPE: MUESLI BARS

100g coconut oil (or use 3/4 cup of another suitable oil such as rice bran, sunflower)

5 Tablespoons honey

1/2 cup shredded coconut or desiccated coconut  

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup raisins/sultanas (use big juicy ones if you can) - optional

2 cups oats

4 Tablespoons peanut butter

1 Tablespoon tahini (If you can't get it just add 1 extra peanut butter)

 Preheat oven to 180 c or 350 F. Grease a large rectangle oven dish, or two square/round ones.

Melt oil and honey in small pot on low heat until just bubbling. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Remove oil and honey from heat and stir peanut butter and then tahini through until smooth. Immediately mix it through dry ingredients until well combined.

Spread out flat in oven dish and bake on middle shelf until just browned on top and cooked through - approximately 20-30 minutes.  If it is browning on top and not cooking through then cover with foil for a bit.

Leave muesli bars to cool before removing, and then slice into bars.

MUESLI TIME

I've been sitting on this post for a while, thinking muesli was perhaps not so worthy of an entry.

However, after watching a certain uninspiring food program on TV last night - where the host ate muesli at a cafe near my house and then met the home cook responsible for the cereal - I realised the world needs my muesli.

One problem I had with the recipe demonstrated last night was the unnecessary butter and sugar it was loaded with. This is also a problem, I think, with many commercial muesli and granola brands.

I'm all for putting butter and sugar where it belongs - on toast, in cakes and biscuits. But I don't need them in my breakfast cereal.

Muesli is Billie's No.1 food. She asks for it all day. And muesli bars, which I must learn to make.

Billie loves to help mama make the muesli. So does Big Teddy.

I should credit my folks with inspiring this recipe - I've adapted and made it my own but it's similar to the one my dad makes.

RECIPE: TWO-SPEED MUESLI

 Lately I've been keeping half of the raw dry ingredients aside in a jar to serve to Billie. Each morning I soak it in freshly squeezed orange juice and perhaps a bit of boiling water. Just for a few minutes, so the juice is still fresh with vitamin C. Raw muesli is easier to chew too.

If you are happy with a simpler, healthier muesli then omit the wet ingredients and just eat raw as above. You can soak with water, milk, yoghurt or juice for a few minutes before serving, or overnight if you want it really soft.

If you like a crunchy, slightly sweet, toasted muesli  - then go the whole hog with the recipe below.

'I want to pour it'

DRY INGREDIENTS:

5 cups whole oats

1 cup wheatgerm

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)

1 cup coconut (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1 cup ground linseed (or LSA, but plain linseed if you can)

1 cup raw almonds, chopped quite finely

WET INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil or rice bran oil or light cooking oil

 Place oil and honey in small pot over low heat and cook until just bubbling.

Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients - except almonds and linseed - together in large flat oven tray or baking dish.

Pour hot wet ingredients over muesli and quickly stir through. 

You can serve the muesli as is, without toasting, and this is good for little ones not up for lots of chewing.

But for the real tasty deal, place tray of muesli under grill and stir frequently, or place in medium oven and stir every five minutes - keep an eye on it as you don't really wanna burn it.

Add almonds and linseed (I believe you lose some of the goodness during cooking, especially with the super omega-packed linseed. But I may be wrong, so don't quote me.)

Once cooled place in airtight container. But you can eat it while it's still hot. Yum.

'I want to eat it'.