For many, granola is an indispensable part of the breakfast table. No wonder, because the crispy muesli supports a healthy diet and brings a good portion of crunch into the muesli. You can enjoy your granola with yogurt and milk or top delicious smoothie bowls and porridges with it.
Of course, you can also mix the crispy muesli with a conventional muesli . Verival offers a large and tasty selection of crispy muesli. We'll show you everything you need to know about the crispy cereal.
What exactly is granola?
I'm sure most of us have heard the term granola before. A granola is nothing more than a home-made crunchy cereal. Today, granola is considered a particularly healthy power breakfast. The inventor is the American sanatorium operator James Caleb Jackson, who wanted to serve his patients a healthy and tasty breakfast. In the USA, granola has long been a popular and high-calorie breakfast.
The typical American crispy cereal consists of baked oatmeal with plenty of sugar and honey. Of course, there are quite a few healthy varieties of granola. You can also easily make the crispy muesli yourself.
How does the crunch get into the crispy muesli?
The crunch of the crispy muesli is primarily caused by the adhesive. Honey, agave syrup or maple syrup can be used here. Then it needs an oily component. Coconut oil is particularly good in terms of taste. So that the whole thing is nice and crispy, the oatmeal is put in the oven. To do this, mix the dry ingredients with coconut oil, nuts , seeds and a sweetener such as agave syrup. Then spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
The gentler the whole thing is baked, the crispier it becomes. An ideal temperature is 180 degrees for 15 minutes, with top and bottom heat. If you want as even a result as possible, you should turn the crispy muesli in between. Now let the baked oatmeal cool down. Sealed airtight, you can store the crispy muesli for several weeks.
How healthy is crispy cereal?
How healthy the crispy muesli is, of course, depends on the production. Whether a ready-made cereal or homemade, if it is rich in sugar, the granola is anything but healthy and is a real calorie bomb. Ideally, the manufacturer is certified organic and dispenses with any additives. There are certainly manufacturers who use natural sweeteners, such as dates or maple syrup.
A healthy breakfast should not be made with oil and too much sugar. Combine the granola with a sweet fruit afterward. Fresh berries and chia seeds are also great as toppings. Berries, like blueberries, contain a lot of antioxidants and provide you with sufficient vitamins. They are relatively low in fructose and keep your blood sugar levels constant. If you prepare the granola with seeds, such as pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, your cereal contains healthy proteins and plenty of magnesium.
Recipe idea: Granola tartlet made of berries Urkorn muesli with yogurt cream
Ingredients
For the tarts
- 200 g Berry Urkorn Muesli
- 100 g oatmeal
- 100 g nuts (here walnuts)
- 4 tbsp flaxseed, crushed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 100 g coconut oil
- 100 g maple syrup
For the cream
- 300 g Greek yogurt
- 150 g stoppers
- ½ lemon, grated
- ½ tsp vanilla, ground
- 1 tsp. maple syrup
For topping
- many different berries – e.g. raspberries, blueberries, strawberries
- a few banana chips
- a few edible flowers – e.g. daisies, lilac blossoms
Preparation
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For the bottoms, finely chop the walnuts and melt the coconut oil.
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Knead into a sticky mixture with all the other ingredients.
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Distribute the mixture in muffin tins and press firmly to the bottom and edge. This works best with moistened hands.
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Bake in the oven at 160°C for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool briefly and then gently release from the molds with a spoon.
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For the cream, mix all the ingredients and add to the cake bases. Decorate with berries and flowers.
Video
Find a granola without palm oil
Make sure your granola is made without palm oil. Palm oil is very high in fat and unhealthy because it consists of unsaturated fatty acids. Large amounts of unsaturated fatty acids can lead to arteriosclerosis and increase your cholesterol levels.
But palm oil is not only bad for our health, nature also suffers. Palm oil is increasingly in demand, as it is incorporated into numerous products. Large areas of rainforests are cleared for production. Endangered species are being driven out.
Attention: Palm oil is declared as vegetable fat by individual manufacturers and not as palm oil.
Avoid crispy muesli with cheap sugar
If you opt for a crispy cereal, you should always make sure that it is not made with cheap sugar. Ideally, it is unrefined sugar. Natural sweeteners such as honey, agave syrup or maple syrup are also particularly suitable. These contain important nutrients and vitamins.
Add berries and fruits
A healthy cereal should always be combined with fresh fruit such as berries and fruits. These contain important fiber and vitamins. This way, you provide your body with a sufficient amount of vitamin C in the morning. Berries contain a particularly high amount of antioxidants and a low amount of fructose. There are no limits to the combination options.
Nuts, kernels and seeds
Whoever tops a healthy breakfast with nuts, seeds, and kernels ensures an extra portion of protein and magnesium. Again, there are no limits to your taste. In addition to sunflower seeds, hemp seeds or pumpkin seeds can be added to the cereal. Sesame is also particularly nutritious. This contains plenty of calcium. For the particularly crispy method, you can already put the seeds in the oven and top that healthy granola with roasted seeds and nuts again.
What are the ingredients of a healthy crispy muesli?
The basis of granola is oatmeal. Of course, the whole thing can also be produced in a gluten-free version. Nuts, seeds, and seeds are then mixed in. The personal taste is decisive here; the selection is large, whether coconut flakes, puffed quinoa, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or cashew seeds.
In order for the granola to become crunchy, it needs glue. Instead of sugar, agave syrup or maple syrup can be used. Some coconut oil is also needed for the crispy muesli. Of course, spices should not be missing under any circumstances. Probably the most important spice for a successful crispy muesli is cinnamon. In addition, a pinch of salt and turmeric can be added.
The Bircher Muesli variant – simple recipe
Accessories
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Oven
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Baking tray
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(lockable) glass
Ingredients
- 375 g Bircher muesli (= one pack)
- 100 g oatmeal
- 75 g hazelnuts
- 25 g flaxseed
- 125 g maple syrup
- 100 ml sunflower oil
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
Preparation
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Preheat oven to 180° (top and bottom heat). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Chop hazelnuts with a knife until they are the desired size. If you want, you can also use whole hazelnuts.
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Mix Bircher cereal, oatmeal, chopped hazelnuts, flaxseed, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
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Add sunflower oil and maple syrup and mix again well so that the entire muesli mixture is covered with oil and maple syrup.
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Place the mixture evenly on the prepared baking tray and distribute.
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Bake for 10 minutes, then briefly take out of the oven, turn the mixture with a spoon, and bake for another 10 minutes.
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As soon as everything takes on a crispy brown color, remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool. Attention: During the last few minutes, you should keep a close eye on the crispy cereal so that it does not burn.
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For serving, we recommend (vegetable) yogurt and fresh, diced apple.
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Pour into an airtight glass for storage. Eat within 2 weeks.
Nutritional values
The crispy muesli variants from Verival
If you don't want to make the granola yourself, you can fall back on the varied crispy muesli from Verival. Verival processes ingredients of the highest quality, which are certified organic.
The base of the granola consists of oats, wheat, barley, or spelt. The whole thing is supplemented with freeze-dried fruit. Nuts, honey, and chocolate can also be found in the crispy muesli. The muesli is lovingly produced in Tyrol. Verival bakes exclusively with sunflower oil for that extra portion of crunch. The sweetness is added with small amounts of honey and fine cane sugar. Due to the large variety selection, there is something for everyone. Verival offers the following cereals:
- Fruit Crunchy Mix
- Honey Crunchy
- Berry Crunchy
- Spelt Crunchy
- Blueberry Apple Crunchy
- Chocolate Crunchy
- Orange Acerola Crunchy
- Oat Crunchy
- Blueberry Crunchy
- Honey Granola
