Blog

Homemade Granola

• December 2014
• Recipes

No storebought granola tastes as good as this, and you can also make it with only top notch ingredients! I promise you will love this granola, and you will be amazed at how fast and easy it is to make. I like to eat it with my own soy/almond/brown rice milk. It also makes a great gift, along with the recipe attached to the bag or jar, for those looking for a not-so-consumeristic present.

After you’ve made this recipe once or twice, you’ll realize it’s perfectly fine to add or modify things (for example, use different nuts, add flax seed or flax meal, substitute some apple juice for some of the wet ingredients–whatever you want!). You’ll also realize it’s so darn easy that you’ll be making it every week. The granola takes about 10 minutes to prepare and bakes slow in the oven for about an hour and makes your kitchen smell very good. This is my favorite version, and I hope you love it too!

preheat oven to 300 degrees (I like my granola a little browned–if you like yours less browned, you can set the oven to 250 or 275)

4 cups rolled oats 
1 cup raw almonds 
1 cup cashews
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/8 cup sesame seeds
1 cup coconut flakes (you can use shredded dry coconut)
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup safflower oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup raisins (to be added after baking!)

Mix up the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Measure the maple syrup and safflower oil together in a large pyrex measuring cup. Add the vanilla and stir together in the pyrex cup with a wooden spoon.

Pour the wet mix over the dry ingredients and mix it together with the wooden spoon.

Spread the wet granola over 2 large cookie sheets–the more you spread it out, the faster it will bake and dry out.

Check on it occasionally, stirring it around the sheets with the wooden spoon, and bake for around an hour. I let it bake just until the nuts and oats are very very slightly browned.

Take out the sheets and let them cool for about 10 minutes. Now sprinkle the raisins over the granola. When it’s fully cool, transfer it to a sealable container or ziplock bags.