Granola

Simple homemade granola, packed with flavour and crunch! It’s nut free and lunch box safe, perfect for sprinkling over yogurt or just for snacking! Perfectly sized clusters, just like the stuff you buy.

This is a favourite recipe that I make nearly every week. As a baking blogger, many of the recipes I share are one-time creations or special occasion treats. But I also try to share the foods that are part of our everyday rotation. I spend most Sunday afternoons making a batch of muffins (Banana, Apple or Zucchini), a pan of baked oatmeal and a tray of granola. Keeps the kitchen well stocked for breakfasts, lunches and snacks! After a couple of recipe flops, this has become my go-to granola. Every time I make it, I say “this is so good, why have I not put it on the blog yet?” It’s been on the plan for ages, I think I shot most of the pictures in March. So finally, here it is!

There is a reason why this hasn’t made it to the blog yet, and why very few recipes have in the last several months. Well, 27 small human reasons. 26 of them are my kindergarten French Immersion students. They keep me very busy (it’s yet another grade I had not previously taught) but I’m loving it and will miss them when my term finishes this week.
The other human reason will be making an appearance in February.

My husband and I are very excited to be expecting our first baby!
I spent most of the summer feeling pretty blah, hence the lack of blogging. I didn’t have much interest in food, other than grapes, plums, toaster waffles and cereal. I’m feeling pretty good now, and hoping to get back into the blogging groove, at least for a few months before the baby comes. We’ll see what subbing and the holidays have to say about that though!
Ok, back to the granola! This is a great basic recipe that can be jazzed up any way you want. It’s nut free (though you can certainly add some if that’s not a concern), dairy free and gluten free (as long as you use certified gluten free oats.) It takes all of 5 minutes to mix up and 20 to bake. It’s a good size batch for our family, but can easily be doubled. With coconut yogurt and berries , it’s one of my favourite lunches.

Your cast of characters: rolled/large flake/old-fashioned oats (whatever you want to call them), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, salt, cinnamon, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla.

Use raw seeds if you can find them, so they won’t burn in the oven. Feel free to sub in other seeds or nuts, rice krispies or any other add-ins. I really love the taste of the pumpkin and sunflower seeds though!

Stir the oats, seeds, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl. A note on the salt – the granola is really missing something if you skip it, but a tad too much and it’s too salty for my taste. I’d start with ¼ teaspoon the first time you try it, especially if you don’t eat a ton of salty stuff.

Combine the coconut oil and maple syrup in a small bowl and microwave for 20-30 seconds, until melted. Stir in the vanilla. You can melt the oil and then add the syrup, but since I keep my syrup in the fridge, I find it easiest this way. Adding cold syrup to warm oil will lead to clumps galore!
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and toss until evenly coated.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the granola over it.
There are a couple of tricks to getting the granola to clump together. First of all, use a spatula to pack the granola into an even layer.

After baking for 10 minutes, give the granola a stir, making sure to move what was at the edges into the centre of the pan. Pack it back down as tightly as you can.
Bake for another 10-13 minutes, watching it carefully for the last few.
Take the granola out of the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool. Do not stir it, do not touch it! Letting it cool on the pan will ensure that you get clusters.

When the granola is cool, lift the parchment to break it into clusters.
Try to prevent everyone who walks by from grabbing a handful! Sometimes most of the batch doesn’t make it off the pan – it’s that good.
Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy with yogurt and berries for breakfast, lunch or a snack! Love my Pioneer Woman bowls.

Another of my favourite ways to enjoy granola  is sprinkled over apple slices spread with almond butter.

 

• Servings: 2 cups
• Time: 25 minutes
• Print

Adapted from Cookie and Kate

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats (large flake/old-fashioned)
¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
¼ – ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup pure maple syrup, at room temperature
¼ cup coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon maple extract (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine oats, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Mix syrup, oil and extract in a small bowl.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until the oats are all moistened.
Pour the granola onto the baking sheet, using the spatula to pack it into a uniform layer.
Bake for 10 minutes. Stir the granola, pack it down and bake for another 10 – 13 minutes, until the edges are browned.

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