I’ve been experimenting with granola recipes and I’ve decided that granola is a very simple thing to create as long as you have two basic combinations to start. You need a ratio of about 1 cup wet ingredients (or less) to 7 cups drys. The more wet ingredients you add the chewier your granola is going to be. If it comes out a little dry add some more applesauce. Too wet? Add more oats. It’s really very forgiving. You can’t mess this up, I promise.
I’ve tried several different recipes this week. My last recipe is just a basic combination of 4 recipes that worked well for me (and went over well with the family).
Granola is a great trail snack. It also is a cheap breakfast cereal when served with milk. It’s far healthier than the prepackaged sugar cereals in the grocery store; at a fraction of the cost.
You can add anything you want to your granola. There are probably a million combinations to create your favorite flavor.
I made two batches today. One that was a low sugar option that I like best, and one that the kids would prefer.
Low Sugar Option
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup apple sauce
- 1/4 cup raw local honey
- 1TBSP vanilla extract
- 2TBSP cinnamon (I like a lot of cinnamon)
- 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
- 1 TBSP olive oil
Dry Ingredients:
- 5 Cups Old Fashioned Oats (make sure you are using the slow cook oats)
- 1 cup chopped nuts of your choice (or you can make it without nuts, no rules on what to add)
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut
Mix Ins:
1 cup dried fruit (in this case I used apricots)
Kid Friendly Sweeter Option
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 Cup apple sauce
- 1/4 Cup raw honey
- 1/2 Cup brown sugar (I would rather have used Turbinado sugar, but I was fresh out)
- 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (opt, you could also use hemp powder or bee pollen)
- 1 TBSP olive oil
Dry Ingredients:
- 5 Cups 6 Cups Old Fashioned Oats (the extra sugar made my granola a little wetter=chewier than we like, so I’ll toss in an extra cup of oats next time- this recipe is really very forgiving)
- 1 Cup chopped nuts
- 1 Cup unsweetened oatmeal
Mix Ins:
1 Cup dried fruit (they used raisins and a mango/cherry mix from Costco)
1/2 Cup dark chocolate pieces
To Cook your granola (no matter what combination you choose):
- Wisk wet ingredients (apple sauce, honey, sugars, oils, spices, etc) together in a small bowl.
- Mix dry ingredients (everything but fruit and chocolate pieces) in a very large bowl.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix until well coated.
- Spread evenly in a baking sheet and cook in a 300 degree oven. Stir it up about every 5 minutes until done. It shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes total if you toast it in smaller batches. I toasted it one half at a time. Plus if I forgot about it, I didn’t burn a whole batch. blush
- Cool the pan on a cooling rack. When it’s cooled down a bit you can add in your mix-ins. I like adding them before it’s completely cooled since the fruit will soften just a bit and fuse to the cereal pieces. The chocolate pieces got a little melty too. You want to cool it completely before you store it in an airtight container.