I wanted to title this gluten free toasted muesli recipe something intriguingly delicious like, ‘Maple Nut Toasted Muesli’, or ‘Honey Vanilla Toasted Muesli’, or even ‘Low FODMAP Toasted Muesli’ but the thing is, it is so versatile, it can be all those things, or none of those things. Your choice.

If you are on a Low FODMAP way of eating, you could use maple syrup (not honey), macadamias, pecans or walnuts (not almonds) and dried blueberries (not dried apple). You could add dried strawberry flakes, or serve it with slices of fresh banana, and lactose-free milk.

If you don’t tolerate them, you can leave the nuts out, maybe try a selection of seeds instead, like sunflower, pepitas or sesame seeds. (I did make muesli with activated nuts once, but it was a long process).

Add whatever you like to enhance the just-sweet toastiness of this muesli, or just have the toasted puffed cereals!

gluten free toasted muesli

INGREDIENTS

• 100 mls (1/4 cup) melted coconut oil (or you can use macadamia oil)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (or rice malt syrup)
• 1 cup puffed quinoa
• 1 cup puffed millet
• 1 cup puffed amaranth
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup of pecans, macadamias or walnuts (or combination), chopped or broken into pieces
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or paste, or powder

OPTIONAL

• 1 cup LSA mix (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds & almonds)
• dried fruit pieces

METHOD

1. Heat your oven to low to medium temperature.
2. In a medium sized heatproof bowl, or saucepan, melt the coconut oil, and add the maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir to combine (it won’t completely blend together, but you can warm it up and stir with a whisk to help emulsify it)
3. In a large mixing bowl, or directly into the baking dish, put the puffed cereals, the nuts (or seeds, if you are substituting), and the sunflower seeds. Stir gently to combine (these puffed cereals like to jump out, they are so light!)
4. Add the oil and syrup mix, and quickly but gently combine. I like to use two dessert or soup spoons like salad forks, carefully scooping and stirring from the outside of the baking dish towards the centre, to get a good distribution, without the cereals flying out of the baking dish. Of course, you can use a large mixing bowl and it would be easier to stir, but then you’ll have an extra bowl to wash!
5. Bake on middle or bottom shelf for 10 minutes, then stir carefully
6. Bake for further 10 minutes. Check to see if it is becoming golden brown (you may need to stir it again). Remove from oven when it is toasted to your liking.
7. Allow to cool. Stir gently a couple of times, to carefully scrape any gluten free toasted muesli off the bottom of the baking dish before it sets
8. Once cool, you can then add the LSA mix or dried fruit (if you are using), and stir it in
9. Store in an airtight container. This gluten free toasted muesli will last for several weeks.
10. Serve with organic milk, and fresh fruit. My husband tops his gluten free cornflakes with this muesli. It is also delicious on top of stewed fruit & yoghurt or cream, as a dessert.

NOTES

• If you cannot find puffed millet, or puffed quinoa, or puffed amaranth, you can substitute any of them for each other, or try puffed brown rice
• The pre-ground LSA mixes can be a bit more volatile to being heated/ baked, therefore I only mix it in after baking
• You can double or triple the batch, and it will last for several weeks in an airtight container in the pantry