Like most people I have a nickname which my family refer to me by, most people assume that mine is related to my small stature & features but no, my nickname is not "pixie" but "picksie" ! I am well known in our house for being a picker, from the skin off the roast chicken to the icing off the Christmas cake. My speciality is still however picking the dried fruit (especially juicy raisins and dates) out off the bags of muesli which really drives my dad mad! I have tried every type of variation of muesli stocked in my local healthfood shop, but the mix never seems quite right, there is always too much of something and not quite enough of another, some mueslis are too bland and some granolas too sweet.
To add insult to injury the price always seems at least twice the price of buying the ingredients individually. For the last few months I have been on a crusade to find the perfect start to my day and the perfect toping for my fruit salads & yoghurts. Readers I have finally cracked it!
Pixie's crunchy muesli: ingredients: 2 cups of porridge oats , 1 cup quinoa flakes, 1 cup cornflakes (sweetened with apple juice), 1/2 cup of grated coconut, 1/2 cup of chopped dried dates, 1/2 cup of mixed nuts (what ever you fancy - I use a mix of walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, cashew and brazil nuts), 1/2 cup chopped dried figs, 4 chopped dried apricots, 1/2 cup of raisins, 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds, 2 tablespoons golden linseeds, 4 generous tablespoons of maple syrup and 3 generous tablespoons of sunflower oil
Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well then stir in maple syrup & sunflower oil and mix well. Transfer to a well oiled baking tin (I use a brownie tin) if you want more of a granola or prefer your cereal more toasted then a baking tray would work. Place in preheated oven (150°) for about 30 mins; stirring regularly to ensure even toasting and to avoid over baking. Once an even golden brown take out of oven and leave to cool in tin before transferring to a large glass jar or Tupperware.
Lasts for about 2 months in a jar if you manage to stop yourself snacking on it!
In terms of price even with the amount of dried fruit content exceeding standard museli this works out at about half the price especially if you can find a shop like wholefoods market (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/) or in Paris http://www.bio-c-bon.eu/ where you can buy cereals and dried fruits loose in the quantities you want to buy. This also means that you can have fun experimenting making your own special museli.
While that is me sorted for breakfast, muesli is not enough for the Frenchman in my life, who recently paid for me to attend a baking course at http://www.cooknwithclass.com/ and is now expecting to see the fruits of his investment.
I never appreciated the amount of work (or butter!) that went into a croissant until I took this class. The croissants are made over 3 days i.e. you want to eat them on Sunday while reading your paper, then you better start on Friday morning! Tomorrow is Bastille day so a public holiday in France, which means a nice late and long breakfast. The Frenchman suggested that this should also be "pay day" so I started preparing my croissants on Monday morning. But more about that tomorrow!
Need inspiration for your muesli, then try some of the links below:
http://www.mueslirecipes.com/
http://hubpages.com/hub/toastedmuesli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4c-VUzO540
http://www.dailyunadventuresincooking.com/2009/08/coconut-and-pistachio-muesli-recipe.html
No comments:
Post a Comment