I used to love granola for breakfast. As a teenager I’d buy strawberry granola from the supermarket and eat a huge bowlful before school in the morning. It was crunchy. It was sweet. It was delicious. Then, as I got older I started to pay attention to ingredients and the amount of sugar and palmoil in granola really ruined it for me. A gaping hole formed in my breakfast repertoire. One day though, I figured it can’t be all that difficult to make, can it? After all there are hundreds of recipes online! So I went off and bought myself some oats and nuts et voila! Homemade granola was born for me. I can honestly say it is one of the easiest things to make. It’s not only really tasty but also much healthier than anything store bought. Even if you do decide to add some chocolate to it like I did ?
When I still had my office job I used to take boxes full of it to work and then pour it over yoghurt for breakfast or just snack on it straight out the box in the afternoon. Also great with fresh banana and ice cold milk in summer. Or sprinkled over ice cream. It should also keep around 2 weeks so do make a large batch!
The nice thing about making granola at home is that you can add whatever you fancy into it. Some suggestions for you here:
- apple and cinnamon – add ground cinnamon and nutmeg to the oats before baking. Then stir in some chopped dried apples or freeze dried apples
- raisins and nuts – self explanatory there
- chocolate – white, milk, dark – anything goes
- chocolate, cherry, almonds – make with freeze dried cherries, chopped almonds and chocolate
- nuts and seeds – a mixture of whatever seeds or nuts you can find
- bounty – try adding desiccated coconut for the last 10min in oven and then stir in some chocolate
I used coconut oil in this recipe, because I think it adds quite a nice flavour to it. If you’re not keen you can just replace it with plain flavoured vegetable oil. If you do, no need to warm it through, just pour straight over. Similarly, you could replace the maple syrup with some honey if you wish.
Methods to success:
- Remember to stir your granola while in the oven. The granola tends to turn quite dark around the edges and burnt nuts do not taste nice! Make sure to keep checking on it every few minutes as well.
