Name: Dark Chocolate Muesli
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1/4 cup chopped dried dates {I used dried tart Montmorency Cherries instead}; 1 Tablespoon packed light or dark brown sugar; 2 cups gluten-free oats (not quick-cooking {I used Bob's Red Mill gluten-free oats}); 1/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts; 1/4 cup dried blueberries or raisins; 2 1/2 ounce chocolate with 70 % cocoa content (cut into 1/2-inch pieces); 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process (or cacao nibs); 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to taste); Pinch of fine sea salt; 3 cups low fat milk {Or use nondairy alternative such as almond milk (coconut milk, or soy milk})

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This easy, nourishing, dark chocolate muesli with hazelnuts, and dried cherries and almonds, tastes like hot chocolate in a bowl! It’s gluten-free and absolutely delicious!

A few weeks ago, I was the lucky winner of a beautiful cookbook entitled Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by food writer and cooking instructor, Maria Speck. The giveaway was hosted by Shulie Madnick over at Food Wanderings. If you’ve never visited Shulie’s lovely blog where she shares both her favorite Mediterranean and Indian inspired recipes, along with mouth watering photographs to boot, I urge you to do so!

Back to the book…

muesliblog7 — Lots of recipes tabbed already!

Immediately after the UPS delivery woman left the book on my doorstep, I opened it right away, and quickly found myself in “whole grain heaven” looking at all the mouth watering pictures and recipes. For a brief moment, I felt a twinge of pity for myself {sob}, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to partake of any of the {gluten containing} recipes made with spelt, kamut, farro, barley and wheat berries.

But I quickly cheered up because there are so many gluten-free grain recipes as well, {amaranth, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, rice, and wild rice} that I didn’t need to feel deprived. Plus, I figured I could easily substitute any of the gluten containing recipes with gluten-free ones as well.

It was hard to know which recipe to start with, so I decided it would be fun to begin with one recipe from each category and share the delicious results with you here. So, last week I posted a survey on my Spicy RD Facebook page asking what recipe to make from the “Breakfast, Brunch, and Breads” category.

The choices were: Orange Polentina with Honey-Mascarpone Topping; Dark Chocolate Muesli with Hazelnuts; Honey-Nut Granola with Olive Oil, and Chewy Almond Butter Bars. And the winner was…

Dark Chocolate Muesli with Hazelnuts, which edged out Orange Polentina with Honey-Mascarpone topping by ONE vote.

All the recipes sounded fabulous to me, but I have to say this muesli recipe speaks to everything an antioxidant and fiber loving, gluten-free eating dietitian could wish for…whole grain oats, dried fruit, nuts, and dark chocolate.

Really, what more could you ask for in a breakfast cereal???

To make it gluten-free like I used certified {purity protocol} gluten-free oats, such as Also, I didn’t have/couldn’t find a couple of the ingredients in the original recipe, so my substitutions are in parentheses.