Baked muesli magic

Having an urge for a carbohydrate breakfast a few months ago meant I had to find a healthy solution and as I didn't feel like rye bread and nut butter there was only one thing for it - make my own muesli.
I have been perfecting my recipe ever since and this is what I have found works best for us.

I start by making a mixture of olive oil,vanilla and almond extracts (about a teaspoon of each) and about half a teaspoon of stevia (more about stevia and it's new status in europe in a future post). I may add a couple of tablespoons of hot water to the mix to make it thinner.

Giant oat flakes are best and I mix with them some barley flakes and/or quinoa flakes (higher in protein but a lot more expensive). I get the organic oat and barley flakes from Little Salkeld mill - the best I have found. I use a big cast casserole dish on top of the Aga to heat a little organic coconut oil (we love the Royal Green and for economy buy a big tub). Then add the flakes and stir for a couple of minutes before adding the oil mix and trying to spread it as evenly as possible through the flakes.

For added flavour and sweetness I snip up a couple of dried figs and apricots and roughly chop some almonds and freshly cracked walnuts and add them to the pan. Then I add in some sunflower and pumpkin seeds and stir it all well. I have to be very careful not to overcook at this stage so I recommend the cooler plate of the Aga or a medium temperature if you are using a hob. Once the muesli is very lightly cooked it is ready to go into the oven for a few minutes. This is the best time for adding the sesame seeds and dessicated coconut as they make their way to the bottom of the pan and burn too quickly so can't be added sooner. I leave the dish in the oven for only around four minutes and usually stir it once during that time just to very lightly brown some of the ingredients.

Leave it to cool if you can manage to resist the gorgeous tempting smell or eat it warm with some oat milk or un-homogenised cows milk. I usually add some ground linseed after cooking for extra goodness. This is a wonderfully satisfying way to enjoy  healthy grains and is very useful to keep in a tin in case I don't have time to make my usual egg and vegetable breakfast. I add different nuts and seeds or dried fruit to change the flavour. Though dried fruits are really too sweet to be eaten regularly they are perfect added in quantities like this. I add only two to four fruits (figs,dates, apricots) to a whole mix which will provide at least eight servings. If I was to sit nibbling dried fruit I know that I wouldn't be able to stop at half a fig!