Mom's Breakfast Granola
Take a large lasagna pan or fry pan and add:
- 6 c. large flake rolled oats
Add 3 c. out of the following options:
- 1 c. nuts (you could use mixed nuts or any of walnuts, pecans, almonds - make sure to use baking nuts that aren’t salted or toasted)
- 1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut (if you can’t find unsweetened reduce the honey later)
- 1 c. wheat germ
- 1/2 c. flax seed
- sesame, poppy, sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
Put in a small bowl:
- 2/3 c. safflower or sunflower oil (do not use a strongly flavoured oil like olive oil) (115 g)
- 2/3 c. honey (~200 g)
Microwave about 1 min. until warm and dissolved. If using hard honey, heat until it melts. Add to liquid:
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pour liquid onto oatmeal and mix until all the oatmeal is coated.
Bake at 325 deg. for about 45 mins., or until all ingredients are toasted and oatmeal grains are a uniform golden-brown, mixing occasionally. At the end, remove the pan from the oven and add:
- 1 c. raisins
- Optional: other dried fruit, e.g. cranberries, currents, apples, apricots
You don’t want to toast the fruit at all or it will go hard.
Comments
Homemade granola is delicious, but often lacks the oat clusters found in store-bought cereal. Here is an assortment of tips I have found (some sourced from this helpful blog post) that may help to make homemade granola clumpy. Further testing is required!
- Egg white method: stir 1-2 eggs whites into the granola mix.
- Oat bran/powder method: some people swear by adding oat bran, flour, ground flax seed, sugar or other powders, which will mix with the liquids to form an “oat glue.”
- Press the oatmeal down into the baking pan before putting it in the oven.
- Reduce stirring to a minimum while baking.
- This interesting recipe recommends using quick oats instead of old fashioned. http://travelerslunchbox.com/2007/06/09/the-lip-ladys-secret-granola/
- Let the granola cool completely (even overnight) before removing it from the baking pan.
- Alternatively, divide the finished oatmeal in half. Remove half into a bowl to cool and leave the other half pressed into the tray. When it cools, the tray half is stuck together and can be broken up into smaller chunks.