Homemade Granola

Remember this little corner of the internet is supposed to mimic what it’s like to be neighbors. If we were IRL neighbors, there’s a good chance I would leave a container of this granola on your front porch the next time I made a batch. The next best thing I can do is share the recipe.

Dry Ingredients:

• 3 cups of oats (I love these oats, but I’m sure any brand will work great)
• 2 cups of mix-ins – a combination of whatever you’d like. I’ve included a list below but there are tons more options. I stock up at Trader Joe’s when I can because they have a great nut & dried fruit section. Think: 1 cup nuts and 1 cup fruit + coconut
  • Pumpkin Seeds
  • Sliced Almonds
  • Pecans
  • Pistachios
  • Coconut Flakes**
  • Dried Cranberries**
  • Dried Cherries**
  • **hold until halfway through the baking process

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/3 Cup Oil (I use avocado oil. You could use olive oil. Or coconut oil.)
• 1/3 Cup Maple Syrup
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• Dash of cinnamon (optional)
• Dash of sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Mix together most of the dry ingredients: oat + nuts in a big bowl
3. Wisk together the wet ingredients & spices: oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, sea salt in a measuring cup
4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together until everything is well-coated. Spread the mixture evenly on a lined rimmed baking sheet (I use a silpat mat. You could also use parchment paper). I like to sprinkle a little bit more sea salt before I pop it in the oven.
5. Bake at 300 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and stir around.
6. Mix in the coconut/dried fruit and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes.
7. Let the granola cool completely. Transfer it to a sealed container (I used old ramen takeout containers also available on Amazon), and it should keep for up to 1 month.

The babies love helping and can happily dump the dry ingredients and manage to get most of them into the bowl.  I was shocked at how easy it was to make the first time I tried and plan to keep trying new versions with different mix-ins. This current version is a KNW-tweaked recipe passed along from a best friend after trying it at her house over Christmas. We love it with yogurt and fruit, by itself, with milk. I dropped some off to a friend last week and she texted asking for the recipe 10 minutes later. Now that I’ve finally written it down formally, I’m off to send her a link to this post 😉

Happy cooking!

xo,

KNW