Granola.
The best granola I’ve ever made.
So, I’m not big on recipes.
I find that whenever I follow them to a tee, they don’t work out - very frustrating!
Basically they should be guidelines, every single ingredient in the entire universe ever is slightly different from the last and probably VERY different from what the person writing a recipe has available.
So read recipes! Get inspired! But remember that you can add extras, take things out, cook it longer if it feels underdone, GO WILD AND CHUCK THE BOOK OUT!
But here’s my granola recipe, I’m not gonna post 10 different ones pretending they’re not the same, when realistically, you can sub the nuts/seeds/spices every time!
Change it how you will, it’ll probs still be granola :-)
Why should I make my own granola?
Yeah there are SO MANY cereals and granolas out there, what’s the point in making your own? WHAT A HASSLE RIGHT?
If you care about sugar content, supermarket cereals usually aren’t a good choice.
If you care about livin it up eco style, supermarket cereals usually aren’t a good choice.
If you’re after a vegan and gluten free granola, supermarket cereals usually aren’t a good choice.
See what I’m getting at with the supermarket cereals?
With making your own, you can pick how sweet you want it, exactly what ingredients go in (stuff you’ve hopefully picked up plastic free from a refill store) and you can get CLUMPS! I love clumpy granola and often, store bought ones are just crunchy oats and are very disappointing - this clumps!
Also full of healthy fats and fibre for a slow release of energy throughout the morning :-)
My Favourite Granola Recipe
Yields: 3-4 cups
Time: 3 mins prep, 20-25 mins cooking
Equipment: Bowl, spoon, measuring cups (see notes below), big baking sheet, silicone mat or parchment paper
Ingredients:
1/3 cup nut butter/tahini/seed butter (I used hazelnut butter for this one, tastes like ferrero rocher)
1/4 cup maple/agave/sugar free syrup
pinch of salt
1-2 tsp of any ground spice you like (mixed spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, whatever YOU like)
1 cup gluten free oats
1/2 cup quinoa flakes (use more oats or other flaked grain if you don’t have these)
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup seeds
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/4 cacao nibs
1/4 cup chocolate buttons (I use these because they’re the best)
Recipe:
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/320f/gas mark 3.
Mix the nut/seed butter, syrup, salt and spice in a bowl.
Add all the other ingredients (minus choc chips) and give it a good stir till they’re coated and sort of sticking together a bit.
TRY SOME. You may want to add a little more syrup or spice depending on your taste gizmos.
Spread out into a 1cm high layer on your lined baking sheet, letting clumps be clumps but with a few tiny gaps (see above pic).
Pop on the bottom shelf of the oven for 15 mins, take out and give it a little flip with a spatula, moving the outside bits to the middle and the middle bits to the outside.
Cook for up to 10 mins longer, keeping an eye on it every few minutes to avoid it burrrrrning and getting ruined - remember that my oven is probably very different to your oven (I always think I understand mine till it burns or undercooks a dish and I’m left without dinner ha!). You’ll be able to smell it and it smells very good.
When it’s golden all over (not burnt), take it out and quickly chuck chocolate chips all over, these will melt and then resolidify, leaving you with BIG CHUNKS of granola! If you don’t want to use chocolate chips, it’ll still clump up no worries, just don’t stir or really move it until it’s completely cooled (I get impatient and put it in the fridge once the tray is cool enough to pick up happily).
Store in a jar or box in the fridge for up to… like 2 weeks is my record for not bingeing on it and it still being good and crunchy!
EAT IT.
Note on equipment………
I fully advise investing in some measuring cups! These are the ones I use and they’re so useful for so many things (I don’t like weighing stuff, I like to cook by sight but it does help having a rough guide and a OFFICIAL teaspoon and tablespoons!)
I got a silicone mat to do macarons on one time and never ended up using it for that - now I use it all the time for cookies and granola and bread buns, it’s so bloody awesome and easy to clean! Look here for them, there are so many options (and I love Amazon, soz) and prices so pick one that looks best for you.