Making your own granola offers you the flexibility of adding the ingredients you prefer, and is much less expensive than store-bought. This recipe was shared with me by my daughter from Simply in Season. What makes this recipe unique is the use of some milk and whole wheat flour, so that the ingredients stick together in nice, crunchy chunks.

 

Yield: 5-6 cups

 

Ingredients

  • 3 C. (750 ml) rolled oats
  • 1 C. (250 ml) whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 C. (60 ml) brown sugar
  • 1.2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. ginger
  • 1/4 C. (60 ml) vegetable oil
  • 1/4 C. (60 ml) honey
  • 1/4 C. (60 ml) milk
  • 1 1/2 C. (375 ml) nuts
  • Dried fruit (raisins, apricots, etc.) –as desired

 

Instructions

  1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add up to 1 1/2 C. (375 ml) of nuts, coconut, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.
  2. Combine the three wet ingredients and stir. Pour them into the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly; making sure all the flour has been incorporated. Add another tablespoon or two of milk if the mixture is not clumpy.
  3. Spread the mixture onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. You don’t want the mixture to be too thick or it won’t get crunchy.
  4. Bake at 300° F (150° C) for 40-50 minutes, stirring the mixture every 10 minutes. You’ll find that the outer edges brown more quickly than the center so use a spatula to rotate the mixture and break up larger clumps.
  5. If you prefer it very crunchy, allow to dry in the oven, once you turn it off. If the granola is not the last thing I’m baking for the day, I just keep it on the baking sheet until I turn off the oven and then put it back in with the oven off until the oven is cool. Once it’s cool, add raisins and other dried fruit if you like.
  6. Store in an airtight container. The recipe says it keeps a week. I think it would keep well up to a month though we finish ours off faster than that!
  7. Enjoy with milk, yogurt or fresh fruit.

 

For additional recipes, please visit: http://ciaofromdebbie.com

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