Apple Pie Muesli; Review of Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: Rose Bakery

Soaking the oats the night before means this healthy, delicious breakfast is just quickly stirred together and then ready to eat! Affiliate links were used in this post. A copy of Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery was sent to me by the publishers for purposes of an honest review. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions are my own.

I am bone deep tired. Which is sad, because I would really have liked to have started the oats for this dish tonight, so I could eat it come morning. I made it a few weeks ago and have been craving it again ever since. And goodness knows it is easy enough! I have no excuse! But hey I sent my daughter over to her friend’s house today at 10:30 am…. for a play date that started at 1:30 pm. Yeah. That kind of day, and that kind of week.

I meant to share this with you guys a lot sooner, but then Bundt Bakers and Creative Cookie Exchange popped up, and I needed to get those posts out first. But that’s ok–a week’s delay puts us that much closer to apple season. At Rose Bakery in Paris, where they make this muesli, they use apple year round because it is that tasty and easy. But honestly, I personally would be unable to fiddle during strawberry season. Or maybe orange season. Or pomegranates. Peaches. I can even imagine it with carrots! You get the idea. Which is not to say that the apples are not fantastic–because they are. And they are a great bet for being tasty, even out of season, since certain kinds of apples last so well in cold storage. But just know that I think this recipe is also a great blueprint for more variations.

This Apple Pie Muesli (so named because I added more spices) is closely adapted from the museli in Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery by Rose Carrarini. Phaidon sent me the book to review–which was exciting as it had been on my wish list for a while. It is different (from what I think of anyway) from your typical Phaidon cookbook. It is specific to a bakery, not a culture or country, and is a smaller, more personal work, not so encyclopedic and near overwhelming (although I also love that near overwhelming encyclopedic approach). It is also, as a result, more affordable. I had never heard of the Rose Bakery in Paris, but I was instantly attracted to a cookbook devoted to the dishes of the daytime, especially breakfast and tea. The dishes themselves are a delightful fusion of British and French sensibilities, as Carrarini is English and her bakery is in France. The photography is also delightful, capturing moments in time throughout the day at the bakery. For anyone who enjoys homey scones, tarts, cakes, fruit dishes, salads–this is the book for you. There are a few heavier dishes with meat, but for the most part this is a cookbook focused on lighter fare.

And the dish itself? Alex and I loved it. One of the beauties of using apple is that it provided most of the sweetener necessary to the dish–I used only a little honey. For some fruits (pomegranate, for example) I am sure I would use more honey–or combine with a second, sweeter, fruit. The grated apple on top is a touch of genius–from the original recipe. My main change to the recipe was to add more spices (the yogurt plus the apple reminds me of my mom’s sour cream apple pie, which I adore, so of course that then put me in mind of upping the spices). The chia seeds were just a whim for health, since I have them in the freezer. I also swapped out pecans for almonds, but you could use any nut you fancy–Alex happens to like pecans best, and I was making the dish with her.

5 from 1 vote

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Apple Pie Muesli

Closely adapted from Rose Carrarini

Course: Breakfast

Author: TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats (for gluten free make sure the oats were processed in GF facility)
• 1 cup water or apple juice
• 1/2 cup (scant) plain Greek yogurt (fat % your choice)
• 1 T milk
• 1 apple, grated (I prefer with peel for fiber and color), divided
• 2 heaping T chopped pecans, plus more to sprinkle
• 1 T chia seeds, plus more to sprinkle ((for gluten free make sure the chia seeds were processed in GF facility)
• 1 T honey, plus more to drizzle (optional)
• 1/8 t cinnamon, plus more to sprinkle
• pinch of cloves
• pinch of ground ginger
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. The night before (or 1 hour prior to serving--but who wants to wait an hour to eat breakfast!?) mix the oats with the cup of water or apple juice (I did half of each). Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to soak overnight or for one hour minimum.

2. Whisk the yogurt and milk together.

3. Mix all of the ingredients together right before serving, including most of the shredded apple (I shredded it right into the mixing bowl).
4. Top individual serving with extra cinnamon, chopped nuts, chia seeds and shredded apple. I did not top with extra honey--the apple plus the initial tablespoon was enough for me but it may depend on how sweet of an apple you are using and what you soaked your oats in.