Making Granola at Home, Easy, Yummy and Healthy: Recipe #2
Granola is a healthy and nutritious snack that is really quite easy to make at home. The hardest part of making it is keeping an eye on it so that it does not burn. When I watch it, I turn it every 10 or 15 minutes, baking it for a total of 30 - 45 minutes. It should be cooled on a wire rack since the granola will keep baking on the sheet while the pan is hot. It is like cookies in that regard, I take my cookies out just when they start browning. Same for the granola. Also, make sure you allow the granola to cool for the most part before adding your dried fruit. If you decide to add chocolate chips (this makes granola much more appealing to my kids), let the granola cool completely or the chocolate will melt. I eat granola dry throughout the day, I also eat it in a bowl with milk for breakfast or a treat. I hope you enjoy my second granola recipe that I have come up with and published a Hub about!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked oatmeal, rolled oats not instant
- 1 cup rice cereal squares, crushed
- 1 cup almonds, chopped or sliced
- 2 tsp cinnamon, I use Penzey's Vietnamese
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup peanut butter, softened
- 1/2 cup dried fruit, I used dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
How To:
- Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line one with aluminum foil or parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- Using a food processor, chop or slice the almonds as you like, or buy them already sliced. I left mine in fairly large chunks, but I let the processor break them up some.
- In a large bowl, mix your oats, crushed cereal, chopped almonds and cinnamon together well.
- In a smaller bowl, melt your butter and peanut butter together for about 30 seconds in the microwave. This makes it easier to use for coating the dry ingredients. Add the syrup (you could also use honey or a mix of honey and syrup) and blend these three ingredients together well.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients in the large bowl. Blend well so that everything is coated fairly evenly. Spread the granola mix onto the prepared cookie sheet (you could also use any 10 x 13" inch pan, deeper pans may have less spillage for you).
- Bake for 30 - 45 minutes total. I turn my granola every about every 10 - 15 minutes. Watch it so that it does not burn. Once the granola is a golden brown color, take it out and let it cool on a wire rack.
- After letting the granola cool at least 30 minutes (I let mine cool an hour), you can add your dried fruit. If you are adding chocolate chips, as I did, you should probably let it cool at least an hour. The chocolate will melt if you add it too soon.
- How to Make Delicious Granola at Home
This homemade granola has fantastic flavor, and is completely addicting. It is practically gluten-free, the brown sugar and the oats are questionable because of possible cross-contamination from wheat crops, but other than that it is gluten-free. My
