My husband and I love granola! When we were kids we used to beg our parents to buy those yogurt parfaits at the grocery store – the granola at the top, yogurt on the bottom. We bake every week and often use oats in recipes, so we always have them on hand. We have been wanting to make some homemade granola for quite sometime now and so, when I came across this recipe on Pinterest via the blog True Aim, I had to try it out!
The great thing about this recipe is that there are many variations you could try and a variety of add-ins that you can throw in according to your preference. We used what we had on hand – almonds, cranberries and hemp hearts. This is a great base recipe to add whatever you like and whatever you have in your cupboard.
As the granola baked, the aroma in our house was amazing – love the smell of cinnamon and the oats as they toasted in the oven.
Here is the recipe for Homemade Granola:
Ingredients:
4 cups of oats
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp of your favourite spice like cinnamon (we used just cinnamon), or pumpkin pie spice, or mix of ginger and cinnamon
1 cup of raw almonds – chopped, and/or chopped pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or combination (we added chopped almonds)
½ cup dried fruit: cranberries, apricots, cherries, etc (we added chopped cranberries)
¼ cup of melted coconut oil, butter or canola oil (we used melted coconut oil)
¼ cup + 2 tbsp’s of brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave or sweetener of your choice or 2 tbsp of peanut butter (We just used honey)
1 tbsp of vanilla, almond or your favourite extract
Optional: 1 cup of unsweetened coconut or add more nuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix together oats, salt, spices, nuts and fruit in a large bowl. *We also added in about a tbsp of Hemp Hearts. (optional)
In a separate bowl, mix together your sweetener, oil and extract – we used honey and melted coconut oil, cinnamon and vanilla extract.
Pour the oil mixture into the large bowl, mix and stir until it is evenly coated.
Spread on baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes. We checked ours at about 20-25 minutes and it was ready, slightly browned.
Let it cool completely before serving or storing.
With this recipe, we filled up two medium glass containers and after it cooled completely, we stored in these sealed containers in the fridge. After the first week, one container was completely gone! Enjoy it as cereal or add it to cereal with unsweetened almond milk topped with some natural peanut butter as well (my Mom gave me this amazingly delicious idea).
Peanut butter = yum
Cereal and peanut butter = yum and yum
Cereal + Peanut Butter + Homemade granola = yum, yum, yum!
We also added it to yogurt with some fresh fruit or you know, grab a handful of the granola on it’s own and snack away – we sure did. Really, we have been eating granola like chips. Crunch, sweetness and some protein - so delicious!
Let us know if you try the recipe and what you think – enjoy!