Bearers of sweet tooths may not want to read any further.
One of this summer's many quests has been the search for the perfect snack. I want a portable snack that provides me with a nice balance of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. The snacks available in the grocery stores aren't cutting the mustard (or rolling the oats in the my case).
Granola bars and protein bars are full of unnecessary sugar, fat, and weird additives and fake flavors.
Even the orgasmic bulk granola at hippy grocery stores are full of sugar and oil.
Whole wheat pretzels can be nice, especially when dipped in mustard, but they lack substance.
Dried fruits are delicious, but they're also pure sugar.
Nuts are certainly filling, but the fat bomb would put me to sleep.
I tried making my own granola, but that didn't work well - I had trouble getting the granola to turn crunchy or keep its form.
The snack "bar" seems to be the ideal form factor for the portable snack. Last week I was inspired at Whole Foods, of all places. Their bakery makes a "Muesli Stick", a stick of grains, nuts, and raisins. The stick is unsweetened, but the nuts and raisins provide plenty of flavor.
Stick me now I'm dreaming! Dreaming of muesli!
I'm heading out on my very first business trip next week. Although I look forward to the trip itself, I am not looking forward to the fixed menus, junk food, and potentially limited vegetarian options; now seems like the perfect time to practice my hand at my own joy-stick.
I created these "cookies" with the help of the muesli muffin recipe on Bob's Red Mill website. The muffin influence gave the cookies a pleasant fluffiness, with a nice crispy bottom shell where they cooked on the pan. This made me very happy - my other attempts at muffins and cookies of this design turned out overly dense. The sweetness of the raisins and cranberries balanced the toasted seeds very nicely. The ginger & cinnamon seem pointless (will investigate that in the next trial). The best surprise was the grated orange peel!
Monica's Muesli Nuggets of Inspiration
Ingredients:
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup toasted flax, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds
- 1 cup whole wheat flower
- 2 "scoops" vanilla protein powder
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup soy milk
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tbsp applesauce
- 1 tsp grated orange peel (thanks for the idea, Bob!)
- sesame seeds
How-to:
Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a large baking pan with vegetable spray.
Combine and mix dry stuff (except sesame seeds) in one bowl. Combine and mix wet stuff in another bowl.
Pour some of the wet stuff in with the dry stuff. Mix, and add more wet stuff until the batter is just moistened, but stiff enough to be able to form into happy intact cookies, instead of unhappy ooze globs.
Place spoonfuls of the batter onto the baking pan. Shape them into whatever your like - I made cookies, but sticks work, too. Sprinkle the top of the nuggets with sesame seeds. Put these bad boys in the oven and bake JUST until they start getting a little brown on top. Cool on a wire rack if ya got one.
The Muesli Cookie playlist - randomly determined by iTunes:
- Jet Muchacho - Manic Hispanic
- Wish Fulfillment - Sonic Youth
- Look Back In - Moby
- Sweet Baby - Prince and the NPG
- Cars - Gary Numan
- The Jaezebel Spirit - Brian Eno & David Byrne
- 30/90 - Jonathon larson (Tick, Tick, Boom!)
- Electric Blues - Hair
Why oh why do people still use RealAudio format to share their delicious sounds? It's so ... inconvenient. Still, sometimes its worth chugging along with such formalities to tune into something great, like, 
