Did you know that you can make your own cereal at home? I’m not talking just granola, I am talking full-fledged bran flakes coupled with big juicy raisins, dried apricots, crunchy almonds, sweet rolled oats, and crunchy quinoa. Designer cereal at its best.

Well, if you did already know that, I wish you would have told me about it. I just realized it and I think it’s amazing. If only I had known about it years ago….

Prior to clean eating, I was a bit of a cerealaholic. I lived on cereal the year before graduate school. I was making good money at a tech job, but in an effort to double and triple my car payments every month and have money set aside for graduate school, I lived like the struggling artist that I strove to be. I had a tiny studio apartment: I could fry an egg, get dressed for work, watch the news, and brush my teeth without having to move an inch. I had an egg sandwich as I ran out the door (I had to move my car by 7 am to avoid a parking ticket) and every night I devoured bowls of cereal while reading cookbooks before heading off to play rehearsals or auditions.

After graduate school, I still kept my cereal habit. I had my basic cereals: Cheerios, Fiber One, Crunchy Oat Bran, and then my designer, ‘treat’ cereals like Blueberry Morning and Raisin Nut Bran. My pantry looked like a showroom for Kelloggs and General Mills.

When Manatee and I decided to come clean, we knew our cereal habit had to go. Cereal was  chock full of chemicals and preservatives, not to mention, it’s really expensive. It was tough, but we made it. After staying clean, our taste buds readjusted and anything store bought, even the tree hugging organic granolas, were too sweet for our tastes.

Fast forward to present day: I’m pregnant and I want my cereal back. But between the latest scary recalls and how my taste buds pucker at the overly sweetened cereal flakes found in processed favorites, I was at a loss.

Then I started google searching. Unbeknownst to me, bloggers everywhere have been making their own bran flakes at home. Couple that with a modified granola/muesli recipe and Eureka! Homemade Cereal!

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Today you are going to get 2 recipes for the price of 1. For me, these two recipes go together so well that I can’t imagine tucking into a bowl of one without the other.

 

Badger Girl Granola Muesli
Yields 4
Sweet, crispy, and packed with all of your favorite ingredients.

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Total Time
45 min

Total Time
45 min

Base
5 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped walnuts or slivered almonds
2 cups sliced almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds, raw
[1/2] cup sunflower seeds, raw
[1/2] cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
[1/2] flaxseeds
[1/4] cup chia seeds
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Binder
[1/2] cup grapeseed or other neutral tasting oil
[1/2] cup coconut oil
1 cup maple syrup
1 [1/2] tablespoons vanilla extract

Mix-ins
1 [1/2] cup unsweetened coconut flakes
[1/2] cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped dried apricots
[1/2] cup raisins
[1/2] cup golden raisins

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325 (dgF).
2. Combine ingredients for Base (oats, nuts, seeds, quinoa, and cinnamon) in a large bowl.
3. In a small saucepan, combine maple syrup and oils and heat over medium heat until coconut oil melts and syrup is fully dissolved. Stir in vanilla.
4. Pour Binder into Base ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.
5. Spread oat mixture out on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake at 325 (dgF) for 10 minutes. Stir and rotate pans. Bake an additional 10 minutes, stir, rotate. Continue this at 5 minute intervals until oat mixture is golden brown (it will continue to crisp after you take it out of the oven). I baked mine for a total of 30 minutes (10, 10, 5, 5).
6. While mixture is baking, combine Mix-in ingredients (dried fruits and coconut flakes) in a small bowl.
7. Let cool completely on cooling racks. Stir in Mix-ins on the baking pans. Transfer to airtight containers. Granola Muesli will be good for up to 3-4 weeks.

Customize to your tastes. As long as you maintain the following ratios, you will be golden
Base= 9 [1/2]- 9 [3/4] cups
Binder= 1 cup oil to [3/4]-1 cup sweetener (maple syrup or honey)
Mix-ins= 4 cups.

Badger Girl Learns to Cook by Kimberly Aime https://learntocookbadgergirl.com/
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

 

Homemade Bran Flakes
Yields 2
Homemade bran flakes with the slight hint of peanut butter goodness.

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Total Time
1 hr 30 min

Total Time
1 hr 30 min

Ingredients
1 cup whole bran flakes
1 cup oat flour
[1/4] cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 tablespoons sugar
[1/2] teaspoon baking powder
[1/2] teaspoon salt
[1/3] cup peanut butter
[1/3] tahini
[2/3] cup almond (or other non-dairy) milk
[1/2] cup water

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 (dgF).
2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl (bran, oat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, salt, baking powder).
3. Stir in peanut butter and tahini. The dough will form a coarse meal. Break up the pieces as much as possible.
4. Add milk and water. Stir to combine. Let rest for 5 minutes.
5. While dough is resting, measure out 4 pieces of parchment paper to fit your baking sheets.
6. Place [1/4] of dough onto prepared parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and use a rolling pin to roll the dough as thin as possible. Remove plastic wrap and place parchment paper on baking sheet. Repeat.
7. Bake first two batches at 350 (dgF) for 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. While those 2 sheets are baking, roll out remaining dough on remaining parchment paper.
8. To cool, remove dough and parchment paper onto cooling racks. Bake the remaining 2 sheets.
9. Reduce oven temperature to 250 (dgF). Let cool completely and break the dough into slightly larger than bite sized pieces. Spread out on baking sheets. They can overlap. You should be able to get all 4 doughs on 2 baking sheets.
10. Bake at 250 (dgF) for 20-30 minutes, rotating pans and tossing flakes every 10 minutes. Bake until golden brown and crisp.
11. Let cool completely and store in airtight containers for up to 3 weeks.

Adapted from Macheesmo
Adapted from Macheesmo
Badger Girl Learns to Cook by Kimberly Aime https://learntocookbadgergirl.com/
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

 

The Bran Flakes can be a little tricky the first time you make them, so check out this post for some helpful visuals that walk you through the whole recipe.

Recipe Review:

This cereal has been my go-to for the last 3 weeks. I look forward to it. The Granola Muesli has just enough sweetness to feel like a treat.

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The cinnamon adds warmth and I love the chewy dried fruit. I am particularly fond of jumbo raisins and chopped dried apricots. Yum!

Because of the sweet nature of the Granola Muesli, you almost need something to counterbalance it.

bran flakes

The nuttiness of the Bran Flakes neutralize the sweetness and give the cereal more heft.

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All I can really say is that I hope you try it. This is a great recipe to make over the weekend and then have on hand for the week (or weeks) to come.

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What is your favorite cereal?

 

 


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