microwave muesli

I know the title is tragic but this is my go-to muesli recipe, thank you Dame Alison. In the eighties when the microwave was all set to take over from the conventional oven, Alison Holst was at the forefront of microwave cuisine. Our family embraced Alison's microwave muesli and microwave brownie recipes - she was so ahead of her time, in the eighties hardly anyone in NZ had heard of a brownie, nowadays we'd probably prefer it wasn't microwaved...

I started making this muesli when I was nine or ten and it made page 5 in my handwritten recipe book (oh and check out that handwriting, I marvel at it now and if you saw my current illegible script you would too...) While these days I think most of us accept the limitations of the microwave (melting butter, reheating leftovers yes but scrambled egg, roast chicken, brownies no) it still does a great job of a quick batch of muesli. If the oven is on for something else or I am making a big batch I will bake it, but otherwise it is remarkable what the microwave can achieve in around 10 minutes.

I make it in a large pyrex casserole, and melt the wet ingredients in this first before adding the dry, so it is a one-bowl job. This batch was for the market so is just oats and seeds, but I would normally add nuts to it too. It's amazing how crunchy it gets, it crisps up on cooling, much like a biscuit does.

Alison Holst's Muesli (microwave)

1/4 c honey
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c plain oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 c rolled oats (I use a mix of jumbo and regular)
1/2 c oat bran (sub for extra oats if none in your pantry)
1/2 c wheatgerm (ditto)
1/2 c nuts
1/2 c dried fruit

Mix the first 6 ingredients in your large microwave proof dish and cook for a minute or two until melted and bubbly. Add the dry ingredients (excluding the fruit) and mix thoroughly to coat evenly. Cook for 3 minutes, then in blasts of 2 minutes, stirring well after each to avoid burning in hot spots where the honey mix has settled. I find it takes about 10 minutes or so, as my pyrex is large so the mix is quite shallow in it. Mix in fruit after it has cooked.