Cinnamon Almond Butter Cereal

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~ raw, vegan, gluten-free ~

If you know me or at least have read some of my breakfast cereal posts, you will see that I am a sucker for a bowl of crunchy cereal, well actually any cereal.

Especially the kind where you make a nest in the corner of the couch, bundled up in a fuzzy blanket, a bowl tucked under your chin (can’t lose a drop of almond milk) while one spoonful gets shoveled in one right after the other. Yep, this is one of those cereals.

It is crunchy and laced with a hint of banana and a good dose of cinnamonomomomomomomom.  If you don’t have almond pulp on hand, you can use finely ground almonds, but the texture will be a bit denser.  Nothing wrong with dense, of course, and I love experiencing different textures in the beautiful world of raw.

This batch of cereal turned into 225 little squares of goodness.  As you will notice in the list of ingredients, I only used 1/4 cup of maple syrup.

Each little square only has .25 grams of sweetener in it!  Not so bad if you ask me. :)  But you can always add more, or better yet, just drizzle a little extra on top when you dish it up.  Just make sure that the bananas are ripe; that way, they are sweeter and much easier on the good ole’ digestive system.  I hope you give this recipe a try, and be sure to let me know how it goes.

Ingredients:

Yields 5 cups dry cereal (225 squares, I counted)

• 2 cups packed, moist almond pulp
• 1 1/4 cup mashed banana, (2 bananas)
• 3/4 cup raw almond butter
• 1/2 cup ground flax meal
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl combine the almond pulp, banana, almond butter, flax meal, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.
   • Remove all jewels from your hands and dive in.  Mix everything really well.
2. Spread the batter out onto the teflex sheet that comes with the dehydrator.
   • On an Excalibur machine, I used one tray, spreading the batter from one edge to the other.
   • Use a spatula to spread it nice and even, dipping it in water every once in a while, so it didn’t stick to the batter.
3. Score into desired sizes.  I found a ruler in my husband’s tool box drawer that was 18″ long. Perfect for scoring!
4. Dust with additional cinnamon if you wish.
5. Dehydrate at 145 degrees for 1 hour, then reduce to 115 degrees (F) for 8 hours.
   • Flip the tray over onto another that has the mesh sheet only.
   • Peel the teflex sheet off and return to the dehydrator for another 8 hours or until dry.
6. Snap apart on the score lines and place them in an airtight container.  Stored on the counter, it will last 2-3 days. Fridge – 1-2 weeks.  Freezer – 1-2 months.

• To learn more about maple syrup by clicking (here).
• Why do I specify Ceylon cinnamon?  Click (here) to learn why.
• What is Himalayan pink salt, and does it matter?  Click (here) to read more about it.
• Learn how to make raw almond butter by clicking (here).
• Learn how to grind your own flaxseeds for ultimate freshness and nutrition.  Click (here).

Here it is, dried and crunchified!

I had made this cereal several times.  I always play around with

thicknesses and found that I genuinely enjoy it thick and thin. The

thicker squares have more structure.

NRFDA

(Nouveau Raw Food Determining Association) conducted a test at

Nouveau Raw Kitchens, The Soggy Cereal Test.
The subject: Cinnamon Almond Butter Cereal.  
Object: to see how long this raw cereal could stand up to almond milk before getting soggy.  

No animals were harmed in this test.  
The results posted below.

Step 1 ~ Add almond milk.

Step 2 ~ Taste test at 5 minutes…10 minutes…20 minutes…30 minutes…

The lab tech conducting this test ate the whole bowl of the subject matter.
By the time 30 minutes hit.  Still had crunch.  This concludes our test — :) Pats belly.

 

 

 

Tags: Almond Pulp, Dairy Free, Dehydrated, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Soy Free, Vegan