Monday, February 20, 2012

Easy Peasy Homemade Granola

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Granola is one of my favorite foods to make and eat. My fondness of this breakfast item extends beyond its tastiness to the fact that it is ridiculously cheap in comparison to the store bought granola. In fact, I am willing to bet you have most, if not all, of the necessary ingredients at home right now. 

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You will need:
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1/3 cup of honey or maple syrup, or a combination of the two
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
~3 cups of oats (rolled work best, but quick oats will do in a pinch)

Step 1: Preheat your even to 250 degrees and combine all of the ingredients except the oats in a bowl:

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Step 2: Add oats until the oats are lightly coated with the syrup you just made.

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I usually don’t even measure the oats, I just dump them in until I have the right consistency, but start at three cups.

Step 3: Spread the oats out on a cookie sheet. The thinner the layer of oats, the faster the baking process will be.

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Step 4: Bake for 45 minutes, stirring the granola every 15 minutes to keep it cooking evenly. The process is similar to roasting coffee beans--you can bake it for longer if you want a darker flavor. Beware, after 45 minutes the granola can burn easily.

Step 5: Take the granola out of the oven, but DO NOT STIR again. Let it cool and it will clump up on its own. Once the granola has cooled, add nuts, dried fruit, and coconut in whichever combination you prefer. For this batch, we added raisins and walnuts.

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Consume your granola plain, with milk, or my personal favorite—granol-gurt (home made yoghurt* and granola).

This really is a simple recipe, and it is very adaptable to the availability of ingredients and personal preference. If you want your granola to be sweeter, try adding some brown sugar. If you want more clumps, add a few tablespoons of wheat flour or wheat germ (or both).

I gave jars of granola as Christmas gifts to co-workers last year, and everyone loved it.

And for those of you who find picture recipes difficult to follow, here is the whole shebang in a nutshell:
  • Preheat the oven to 250.
  • Combine:
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1/3 cup of honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of  cinnamon
  • Add ~3 cups of rolled oats until the oats are lightly coated with your syrup.
  • Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown, stirring at least every 15 minutes.
  • Embellish to taste.
  • Enjoy!
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*YES! I have conquered home made Greek-style yogurt. Three batches in and it keeps getting better.

1 comment:

  1. Aaaand this just went on the to-do for this week after work. Can't wait to try it!

    ReplyDelete