March 2nd
2006
Here is Dagi’s yummy recipe from the Bob Ross Sunday brunch. Besides all the other wonderful food at our friends’ place, I was completely hooked on her delicious creation. I was having a second, third, fourth and fifth helping – yep, that was me. I was trying to be sly about it, but I’m sure I didn’t pull it of completely unnoticed. Hm, am I embarrassed about it? Nope, not a bit – it was THAT GOOD. Now, whether it’s spelled Müesli, Müsli or Muesli, the fundamental idea is the same: A freshly prepared mixture that includes rolled oats (preferably the finer ones) that have been soaked in water or fruit juice and grated or chopped fresh fruit. While the traditional Swiss Bircher Müesli typically goes with finely grated or blended apple, any other fruit should work just as well. You can be as creative as you allow your imagination to be, adding other dairy products or spices to the mix.
The list of added benefits is long and stems from the fact that the Muesli was originally invented in 1900 by Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital. The term is a Swiss German diminutive of the German word “Mus”, a semi-liquid made from raw or cooked fruit that could roughly be translated to mush, paste, compote or the French purée. So what’s good about it? No additional sugar is being used, fresh fruits instead, oat products have been shown to help lower high blood cholesterol concentration, nuts, which are associated with many health benefits and of course yogurt, a rich source of calcium and protein. Sounds mighty healthy to me!
So there is THE Bircher Müsli and then there is the family of Bircher Müeslis, to which this one here belongs to. But I doubt that without the extended list of ingredients it would be as delish as it is. For the sweetness we blended dried fruits to a paste and kept it in an airtight container (not the one shown above ;) for future use. Part of it we used immediately for a basic sweetness and the rest we put on the table to cover individual needs.
The method is pretty straight forward, but entails a longer “idle time” of 12hours (soaking time). To speed up the soaking process, gently warming up the oat mix helps and although O. prefers it this way, I rather hold out and do without any additional cooking. In the recipe you won’t find explicit amounts, as it’s so dependent on your own personal preferences and besides, it is a great dish to experiment with. To serve as a rough guideline, the ratio of the main ingredients used here was (in volume parts): soaked oats (2) – sweet fruit puree (1)- nuts (1)- fruits (3) – yoghurt (4).
Preparing the oats: Soak them for about 12 hours in water (I tried milk as well and liked it even better), this step is best prepared in advance, basically a day before. As I used frozen raspberries, I also put those out of the freezer to let them defrost over night.
Be sweet: To sweeten the Muesli I produced a sugar substitute using a blender (or such) to combine an equal amount of dried fruit (I used a mixture of figs, raisins and dates) with water (e.g. one cup of mixed fruit with one cup of water). Any leftovers of this fruit puree can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for several days.
Let’s get nuts: Lacking hazelnuts, I substituted D’s recommended nuts with coarsely ground walnuts and almonds. To enhance the flavor I suggest to first roast them for a few minutes ’till they turn slightly golden, then chop/grind them.
Fruity: I mashed some ripe bananas and – following D’s tip for a nice pink color – added raspberries (defrosted, since fresh ones are totally overpriced and rarely tasty at the moment).
Mix and taste: Use a large bowl to mix all of the above described ingredients together with the yogurt of your choice, again, feel free to adapt the amounts to taste, add some maple syrup or honey on top for a finishing touch. Decorate with a generous dollop of yogurt, some nuts and/or fruits and enjoy!
Keeps ready-made for some days in the fridge. ‘Can think of countless variations…oh and for completeness: in case you want to try out the original recipe.
Deconstructed Müesli (just to show what’s inside). Bircher-Brenner’s, charming but not very scientific I might add, theory about “Sunlight-Food“, which encompasses the general notion of returning to a life in harmony with nature, was based on the worldly wisdoms of his ancestors – his Müesli was one of the keystones of his nutrition philosophy.
Bircher Müesli variation
Recipe source: Dagmar, slightly adapted
Prep time: 15min. (plus 12 hours soaking)
.
Ingredients (amounts depend on your personal preferences, a rough guidline is provided in the above steps):
raw oats (the finer type)
water or milk to soak the oats
.
dried figs
dried dates ("stoned" edit: they're happy dates, but also pitted!)
raisins
water (amount equals amount of dried fruit, in vol. parts)
.
walnuts and almonds, roasted & ground
.
bananas, mashed
raspberries or other seasonal fruits
.
plain yogurt (Greek or other)
honey or maple syrup to taste
Great post -- everyone should know about Swiss muesli! I fell in love with it in Zurich a few years ago, even did a Kitchen Parade column about it at Christmas because it's so great for feeding a bunch of people a few at a time. And then two weeks ago, I tried a non-dairy, short-soak version with carrots -- excellent -- and called it Carrot Pineapple Slump.
Super Idee mit den Himbeeren! Das normale Bircher sieht meistens so fade aus, aber diese Schale macht sofort Appetit. Und die Sache mit dem Früchtepüree zum Süßen werde ich gleich mal ausprobieren. Schöne Seite!
I love your Ball jelly glass - it's gorgeous. I have a few of the larger Ball glasses with screw-top, milk-glass-lined metal caps, but nothing as small and gorgeous as the one in this post.
Yay! I have been hoping to find a good Bircher Muesli recipe! I used to eat it at my favorite cafe in Melbourne and in New Zealand you can by a little tub of it at the supermarket (next to the little tubs of yoghurt) for a healthy breakfast on the run. Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I've been missing a tasty Muesli since my last visit to Munich where my mum buys a very good one from the Backspielhaus (though sometimes there is a little too much banana in it). Now I can recreate it here in SF!
Glad were heard and that we have the recipe now. I have another simpler version of a muesli I like to make often, and now I am excited to try this one for a real change!
its kinda hard to find rolled oats here in Malaysia. To simplified, i usually buy the instant's and then add my own fruits...since i dont really like youghurt, i sub with fresh milk....great post...thanx for the recipe and info.
cheers
Hi Nicky - you make the humble müsli sound and look so elegant and stylish:) Great idea to serve it in layers - I'll keep that in mind!
After reading your post yesterday I got all inspired and had this for breakfast this morning....it was so yummy!! I'm was specially suprised by the natural sweetner and will use that much more in the future. Any suggestions what else to put it in?? thank you
Eva
Hi there,
I had Bircher muesli once on a vacation in Austria and liked it very much. Yours looks delicious and sounds healty at the same time. So I will try it this weekend - thank you very much for the recipe and description!
Excuse my French, but that looks parfait, or like a perfect parfait.
I love müesli, and unless the weather around here gets any better (and it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon) I'm going to make a batch this week.
Now if it would just stop raining long enough for me to run to the store for oats...keep up the good spirits during the Bavarian snowfall!
Who needs "Kellogg's Müsli" if can have such a delicious home made müsli? Great pictures and a great alternativ sweetener. I'll try a puree of dried fruit including apricots.
As a Swiss living abroad (California), Birchermüesli is comfort food for me. Therefore, to start the day right, I make myself a simple Müesli every morning. It contains plain yoghurt, one apple, old fashioned rolled oats, and lots of coarsly chopped walnuts. Not very creativ, I know, but does comfort food has to be?
i really like your site. no. i LOVE it.
i also love eating so that's why i also love to visit you place
i live and die by muesli. it becomes me, and i had no idea it could be so much like one of my other breakfast favourites, porridge. thank you so much for the recipe, as does my digestive system.
this is so odd - to me, müsli is a _dry_ mixture of oats, grains, nuts and dried fruits (served with milk, youghurt or swedish fil which I don't know exsist outside the nordic countries) in Sweden. I will have to try it, though :)
thank you for a great site! I enjoy it very much.
What a fantastic recipe. I just made it for my visitors and they were very impressed. The glass is a great idea and the layers look fantastic. Thanks
This is a great website for Birchermuesli and it looks delicious. My last name used to be Bircher. Max was a second or third cousin to my Grandfather Bircher who was born in Switzerland.
that's an awesome recipe. I LOVE oatmeal and of course muesli, but everything they sell here is so plain and boring...your recipe is great and surely filling, but healthy :) I'll make it some day, thanks again!
The recipe is fantastic! I'm a great oats-fan, so will definitely try your recipe for a change of taste and texture! Can't wait tomorrow morning to put my spoon in a bowl with Bircher muesli!! Yummy!!!!!!
Thank you!!
actually I don't think you want fine oats, you want rolled oats. lately it's harder to find rolled oats, or 'traditional' oats as Uncle Toby's calls them here in Australia, because most people want oats that will cook faster. to achieve this the oats are chopped up, finely. They tend to go very gluggy and are quite awful, which is probably why many people don't like porridge. On a side note, you'll also find your Anzac biscuits don't work at well with these, you need proper rolled oats.
but if fine oats=quick oats I would warn ppl off those. You may end up with glue.
oh, and I have to laugh at your experience of the first time you had bircher, the same happened to me ! I don't like yoghurt very much but DH was having his second bowl of bircher at a hotel and I had to try a bite, and kept on taking more and more, and we ended up eating a few helpings between us. Yum. and that "first time you try it" memory is priceless!
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Apart from the ghastly soggy frozen raspberries, this recipe is quite good. The reason you dislike fresh raspberries is because you do not grow your own. Like almost all fruit, raspberries bought in supermarkets are picked long before they are ripe and ready to eat.
Hi John, Sadly I don't have a garden to grow my own raspberries. In my opinion, frozen raspberries are an acceptable substitute in this recipe (the "soggyness" actually is a good thing here), but feel free to use fresh ones when available ;)
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this sounds very healthy and delicious. will have to try it! thanks for sharing.