When I was a poor student, I would oftentimes suck it up and shell out the too much money for a box of granola. It was my go-to snack. Healthy, delicious, and perfect for snacking on. One day, I was over my friend Emily’s place, and saw that she had a Nalgene full of granola in her freezer. I wasn’t too surprised. If you know Emily, you’ll know she’s smart, sassy, and what I like to call preppy crunchy. Think pearls and Patagonia, sailing on the Cape and…Em, what is it they do in New Hampshire? Apparently they make amazingly good homemade granola.
Now that I am a poor writer, I’m glad I have Emily’s recipe on hand. Crunchy, nutty, sweet, slightly salty, and full of that baked goodness that you can only get with brown sugar and your oven. It’s better than the boxed stuff by far. You’ll never want to pay for overpriced cereal again.
Homemade Granola
A few notes:
- When I make a batch, I double the recipe. Trust me, you’ll want an abundance of this around the house.
- I like to use a mixture of pecans and almonds, and prefer dried cranberries to raisins. Feel free to play with this and get creative with toppings (sesame seeds, shredded coconut, ground flax seed, chocolate chips, dried fruit…whatever you fancy).
- For a granola with chunkier clusters, stir once, about halfway through the baking time and allow to cool completely before breaking up. For a less clustered granola, stir every 10 minutes or so.
- This makes a wonderful gift. Jar it up, tie a pretty ribbon around it, and someone will love you forever.
You will shun store-bought granola forever after making your own.
Ingredients
- 4 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 ½ cups sliced almonds/pecans
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups raisins/dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, mix together the oats, nuts, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
- In a saucepan, warm the oil and honey. Stir in vanilla. Pour the liquid over oat mixture.
- Stir gently with a wooden spoon. Finish mixing by hand.
- Spread granola on a foil or parchment paper-lined baking tray (15x10x1 inches).
- Bake for 20 minutes, stir, then bake for another 15 minutes or so, until your granola is toasted golden. Scatter raisins/cranberries on top, and allow to cool completely before transferring to an air-tight container. Be sure to allow the granola to cool completely before breaking it up. That helps it stay chunky.
Notes
Update: For an extra chunky granola, whisk up 2 egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the granola after you’ve mixed in the wet ingredients.
Recipe Source: LickMySpoon.com.
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