About the Recipe
I have always loved cereal and granola. Whether it is for morning breakfast or afternoon snack. I don't know if it is just the Swiss in me, but something about oats, nuts and fruit together makes my mouth and tummy happy. Growing up I had never tried to make my own granola, I just always bought whichever one I found at the grocery store. It is only in my 20s when my best friend started to make her own, that I switched over and have not looked back since. There is really no comparison in flavor. Maybe it is because you can choose your quantities and customize it to exactly how you like it. More nuts, sure! Less nuts, no problem! More honey, great! Less honey, you gotch'a! Easy to throw together and takes no time to bake up a big batch. You can go to your local bulk food store (Bulk Barn here in Canada) and buy premade nut mix and super seed mix. So really, you need three dry ingredients a bit of honey and oil and that's it. When something is this delicious and so easy to make, it kind of is a no brainer in my books. This granola is crunchy, chewy and slightly sweet. You get to taste the best side of all the ingredients. I love eating this in the morning with some yogurt (I prefer mine plain) and a ton of fresh berries or fruit. My ultimate fruit mixture is to put raspberries or pomegranate seeds, blueberries, banana slices and clementine bits. But really any fresh fruit is amazing. I have even had it with freshly diced apple or pear pieces. If you like, you can even go the dried fruit route. Raisins, dried cranberries or dehydrated apples are amazing add ins.
Let me know your favorite combinations!
Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pecans etc.)
1/2 cup super seeds (chia, flax, sunflower, pumpkin, hemp seeds and quinoa etc.)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Preparation
Preheat oven to 300F.
In a large bowl, combine oats, chopped nuts and super seeds. Mix well. I always just use the nuts I have on hand. My favorites are almonds, hazelnuts and cashews. Something I love about this recipe is that it is so flexible. Feel free to play around with the quantities of your dry ingredients. You can add in more of what you like.
With a wooden spoon, mix in the oil and honey. Stir until well combined and until your ingredients start sticking together. Again, you can play around with the quantity of oil and honey. I sometimes use more or less depending on my mood. If you like a drier less sweet granola use less of each. The quantities put are simply there as guides.
Spread granola mixture onto a lined baking sheet in an even layer.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden, stirring halfway.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cooled you can break the granola into chunks (you decide the size).
I store my granola in an airtight jar. Freshness will last at least a week (that's if your granola lasts that long)!
I love to eat mine with some plain yogurt and fruit. But it's also healthy and delicious to munch on as is.
