Monday, February 16, 2015

Basic Crunchy Granola

This recipe is so simple and crunchy that I can't believe it's taken me so long to figure out how to make it. I'm quite particular about my breakfast cereal - it has to be a crunchy mixture of granola, raisins, chopped fruit, yogurt, and some kind of milk. My current favourite is flax milk but I also like almond milk and rice milk.

Moving on...












Here I have 4 cups of rolled oats (a mixture of quick cooking and large-flake)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 Tablespoon of ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

In the measuring cup is 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir to mix all the dry ingredients first, then pour in the liquid and mix it all up until everything is coated.



Then evenly spread all that oatmealy cinnamony goodness onto a parchment lined baking sheet and pop into a 300 degree oven.
Set the timer for 7 minutes...










...pull it out and turn over the granola with a spatula to mix it up so that it toasts nice and evenly and doesn't burn around the edges.

Put it back in the oven and set the timer for another 7 min. and repeat.

Put it back in the oven and set the timer for another 7 minutes and repeat again.

Then pull it out and mix one last time, turn the oven off and put the granola back in the oven for 5 more minutes.




When it's done it should be well toasted and oh-so fragrant. Let it cool like this completely to achieve maximum crunch.

Once cooled, I store it in an old glass cookie jar (above) but it also stores well in a ziplock bag or plastic container.








This is a base recipe and can be halved or doubled with many substitutions.

I've used...

-Rolled spelt and rolled barley along with the rolled oats. Probably other rolled grains work just as well, but I haven't yet tried.

-Honey in place of maple syrup is also very delicious. Ive used molasses too but find it makes the granola too dark and strong tasting. It's not bad, just...strong.

-Pecans and almonds, chopped.

-Pumpkin seeds, flax seed and sunflower seeds, although I rarely use seeds because it makes the granola chewy instead of crunchy, and for me it's all about the crunch.

4 comments:

Connie said...

This sounds really good! I just recently tried almond milk for the first time. I didn't think I would like it, but I did.

Trish said...

It's good, isn't it? It goes really well with cereal.

https://booksthoughtsadventures.com said...

This granola looks delicious...I need to try this rather than spending $6.00 a container at Whole Foods...

Trish said...

I know, right? The store price is what got me motivated to make my own. And, not to brag, but I like mine way better anyway ;)