Make Your Own Granola

i’ve been on a mission to find a good granola recipe.  i’ve tried a few and finally my niece shared one of their family favorites.  i like this recipe (first appeared in usa weekend 2006) since it offers some fun options depending on your taste. the granola is crisp and crumbly which i like.  i added a few changes which the recipe appears to encourage! one of the things i add is dark chocolate. last summer while we were vacationing in france, we bought some yummy granola that had dark chocolate shavings in it! my son who was reluctant to eat granola quickly fell in love with this granola, so of course i wanted to try making a similar version at home. i also used vanilla paste that i found at whole foods and you can find at amazon, here is the link: paste. i loved the vanilla flavor of the paste so, i went ahead and also added a vanilla powder that my friend from sweden gave me.  here is a link for it: vanilla powder

hope you enjoy this tasty morning granola this weekend and thanks for visiting my blog.  stay tuned for next weeks posts.  i hope to show more updates on my family room redecorating on monday, and wednesday, i’ll show you some of the cool antique bottles my husband had shipped from vermont. friday, i hope to show you some of my latest inspirations. 

2 cup old fashioned oatmeal (not instant)

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup extra ingredients

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 tablespoons flavorless oil, canola, safflower

1 tablespoon water

flavoring

preheat oven to 275 degrees, grease a cookie sheet with oil.

mix the oatmeal, wheat germ, brown sugar, and salt together in a bowl.  then in a glass pyrex measuring cup combine the maple syrup, oil, water (the water helps make it clump) and flavoring. bring to a boil in the microwave or in a pan on the stove. drizzle sugar mixture over the oats.  place on prepared cookie sheet and place in oven.  bake for 30 minutes then add dried fruit or other extra ingredients.  mix in with oatmeal and then place back in the oven for another 15 minutes or until brown.

Notes:

~ to make granola clumps, squeeze wet oatmeal in hands and then lay on the cookie sheet for baking.

~ i used pure maple syrup, but you can use honey or a combination of honey and maple syrup. or possibly maple syrup and molasses.

~ you can reduce the brown sugar or omit it, but you may have to increase the baking time to get it to brown.

~ also, you can double the recipe and make it in two cookie sheets. it seems like this only adds a few more minutes to the cooking time.

~ i also used vanilla paste that has the vanilla bean specks.  either the extract or the paste is totally fine for this recipe.

~ it comes out of the oven a little moist, but as it dries it gets crispy!

~ i added chocolate bits that i chopped from a 70% chocolate bar.  i added the chocolate after the granola was cooled. 

classic granola

1 cup of extra ingredients:  1/3 cup walnuts, 1/3 cup flaked coconut, 1/3 cup dark or golden raisins.

flavoring: 1/2 tsp cinnamon

you can replace the maple syrup with 2 tbs each of maple syrup and molasses.

crunchy granola

1 cup of extra ingredients: 1/4 cup slivered almonds, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 2 tbs sesame seeds, 6 tbs currants

flavoring: none

tropical granola

1 cup of extra ingredients: 1/4 cup chopped roasted unsalted cashews, 1/4 cup chopped banana chips, 1/4 cup sweetened flake coconut, 1/4 cup chopped dried pineapple

flavoring: 1/2 tsp ground ginger

granola with cherries and almonds

1 cup of extra ingredients:  1/3 cup sliced almonds, 1/3 cup sweetened flake coconut, 1/3 cup dried cherries

flavoring:  3/4 tsp almond extract

granola trail mix

1 cup extra ingredients: 1/4 cup chopped roasted unsalted peanuts, 1/4 cup sweetened flake coconut, 1/4 cup dark or golden raisins, 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (stir in after granola is completely cooled)

flavoring: none

orange-berry granola with pecans

1 cup extra ingredients: 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1/4 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup dried blueberries

flavoring: 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest

pear granola

1 cup extra ingredients: 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts, 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries, 1/4 cup chopped dried pears.

flavoring: 1 tsp vanilla extract

orange granola

1 cup of extra ingredients: 1/2 cup chopped roasted pistachios, 1/4 cup chopped dates, 1/4 cup chopped dried mangoes

flavoring: 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest and 1/4 tsp allspice