toasted muesli - fruit free

There are a lot of mueslis on the market, and for good reason - endless personal preferences mean endless variations! But there's one preference that I don't see many brands addressing: if you don't like fruit in your morning muesli bowl, odds are you won't find something to suit you on the supermarket shelves, unless you're prepared to sell a family heirloom to support a paleo muesli habit. 

See - and I know I'm not alone here- I am not a fan of fruit in muesli. Often I find that even the fruit free commercial mueslis are way too sweet. So about 7 years ago I set about making my own, and haven’t looked back. 

I love the flexibility of mixing ingredients depending on how I’m feeling at the time. In more recent times, since our son got braces, we've had to pay attention to the nut content - a rogue nut can now mean a trip back to the orthodontist!  Making my own muesli means I can change things up to suit changing moods and requirements. More nuts one batch, nut free the next. Changing the sweetener between honey or maple syrup. Adding a splash of vanilla extract when I'm feeling decadent, or adding more seeds when I want to feel pious.

And so finally, after 4+ years of surprisingly in-depth discussions with you, our customers, and requests for us to Please For The Love Of Breakfast Suzanne Will You Share Your Muesli Recipe, here it is. Finely tuned, curated and perfected over the years, it's ready to meet its public. My family and I hope you love it as much as we do.
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Ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
½ cup almond slivers
½ cup pepitas
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup shredded or flaked coconut
¼ cup chia seeds
½ cup puffed rice or millet
3 tbs honey or maple syrup
3 tbs olive oil or coconut oil
½ cup  chopped raw macadamias (optional)
½ cup chopped hazelnuts (optional)
 
Method:
Heat the oven to 150 C (fan forced)/170 C.
 
Into a large cake pan put the rolled oats, almond slivers, pepitas, sunflower seeds, chia, puffed rice/millet and coconut. Also add the optional chopped hazelnuts and macadamias here as well.

Combine the honey/maple syrup and olive/coconut oil in a jug, stir together, then pour over the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. (If the honey is not very runny, warm it slightly first to make it runnier and easier to mix through).
 
Place in the oven for 15 min.  After 15 min bring out and stir the muesli. Then place back in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and stir and replace in the oven for another 10 minutes. (Stirring ensures the muesli browns evenly) Repeat until it becomes a light golden brown. (Muesli can go from golden brown to burnt very quickly so it’s best to check and stir often and remove when you are happy.) My sweet spot of golden crunchiness is at about 45 min. 
 
Allow to cool and then place in an airtight container and will keep for about 4 - 6 weeks.
 
Pimp My Recipe
You can basically add any kind of nut/seed combination, depending on what you like. Just add ½ cup at a time of these ingredients and it’s best to pre chop the nuts before adding to the muesli.

If you like fruit in your muesli just add any combination of dried fruits once it’s out of the oven.

This also makes a great topper for adding crunch to yoghurt or porridge. 

For a decadent version, try a Choc Hazelnut variation: add 2 tbsp cocoa powder and ½ cup cacao nibs to the oats and seeds, and stir through well. Omit the almonds and macadamias and instead use all hazelnuts, slightly crushed. Then bake as usual. After you've pulled the tray out of the oven, sprinkle over ⅓ cup dark choc chips, and leave the muesli to cool.