How to Make Delicious Granola at Home
Making granola at home is an incredibly tasty treat! I had no idea how much better fresh granola was until I tried making it myself this week. I have made two batches (my first was a bit too crunchy) and am totally addicted to munching on it! I also tried making a relatively healthy granola. I looked at many different recipes and what I had to work with in the cupboard and this is the combination I came up with for my granola recipe. It is really quite good and I am very pleased with it. I've eaten it as cereal, in yogurt and plain for snacking.
I added ground quinoa into my recipe (I did not see it in any other granola recipe) because I really want to get more iron in my family's diet. The quinoa needs to be ground up when it is dry into a fine powder, almost like flour, and I do use it like this in other recipes. I am also trying to get less gluten and sugar in our diet, trying to get healthier a little bit at a time. This is a practically gluten-free recipe. I cannot guarantee that the oats are gluten free (many times they are rotated with wheat crops), so you have to make sure they are certified gluten-free if you are cooking for someone who is physically intolerant of gluten. The brown sugar is also a bit questionable. I do not think it needs to be in this recipe if you are on a strict gluten-free diet. It is pretty sweet anyways with the maple syrup and honey, but I added it simply because I love brown sugar.
If you wanted, you could also use some other types of dried fruit in the granola or other nuts, whatever you like and have available. Almonds are what I had at home and I use in cooking quite a bit. I hope if you get a chance to try my recipe you love it as much as me and my kids do! It is yummy as a treat or for breakfast. Enjoy!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 4 cups oats
- 1 cup rice cereal squares, crushed
- 1 cup almonds, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup quinoa, dry, uncooked, ground fine
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey, local is best
- 3/4 cup maple syrup
- 3/4 - 1 cup raisins
- 3/4 - 1 cup craisins
- 2 tsp cinnamon, I use Penzey's Vietnamese cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp sea salt, freshly ground
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, I use extra light
Instructions
- I used a non-stick roasting pan to make my granola in. Many recipes I was looking at just called for using a baking sheet, but I saw one recipe that used a roasting pan and loved the idea. I really like using a pan with high edges because it makes it easy to mix the granola up. Preheat oven to 325°.
- First mix the oats, rice cereal, chopped almonds, and ground quinoa in the roasting pan so the ingredients are well distributed. Mix in the brown sugar and ground cinnamon at this point, also.
- Next add your raisins and craisins. The specific amount can vary or you can use one or the other. I like the mix of the two fruits. Make sure the amount of fruit you add is between 1-2 cups or so.
- After your dry ingredients are mixed well, add the wet ingredients. Add the vanilla, honey, maple syrup and olive oil. Mix gently with a spatula so that everything is coated. If you need a little more syrup to coat everything, go ahead and drizzle a little more on. You just want to end up with a good moisture balance in the granola, not too wet and not too dry. I crumbled about a teaspoon of brown sugar over the top before putting it in the oven. You don't have to do that.
- Press everything down in the pan with the spatula to make it a uniform thickness, this helps it cook evenly. Place it in the oven for 15 minutes, then remove it and stir it up. Press it flat again and put it back in the oven for 15 more minutes. Then remove and stir. Press it flat again. Place back in the oven for 15 minutes more. Remove it, stir and flatten again for a total of 45 minutes. I cooked mine an additional 10 minutes for a complete cooking time of 55 minutes. Beware the granola will continue cooking in the pan (like cookies do) after it is out of the oven. Believe me, my first batch was way too crunchy. Let cool flat in the pan for about an hour and you should end up with some nice chunky pieces of granola, and lots that won't clump up. It is so flavorful, better than anything I have had from the store. I hope you get a chance to try my recipe and enjoy it!
