Homemade Granola

We’re creatures of habit when it comes to breakfast. Toast, steel cut oats, or granola (usually with yogurt) are the standbys. Sure, every now and then we’ll do an egg something or waffles or pancakes, but generally we’re boring. Maybe what makes it less boring is that the toast and the granola (and the yogurt) are homemade 95% of the time.

Limiting the repertoire makes provisioning easier. The ingredients for bread and granola are long-lasting, requiring no fridge space. The recipes are adaptable, expanding to use up last bits from a bag or going without. And with the case of the granola, I can make up a batch that will last us about a month in the same amount of oven time as a batch that would last us a week. Good thing I have a container that large!

Peanut butter filled pretzels no longer

Granola, at least the way I make it, is a combination of flakey grain (rolled oats), nuts, and dried fruit. Slightly sweet, its time in the oven renders it crispy and crunchy. The texture combinations, with the chewy dried fruit and crunchy nuts, makes eating it a pleasure.

My recipe is an adaptation from one shared by a friend in Charlottesville, though she didn’t make batches as large as this one. It makes 13 or 14 cups, enough to fill a Costco-sized container that once held peanut-butter pretzels.

Basic ratio: just about equal amounts of rolled oats to other bulky stuff. 1/8 amount of coconut oil, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Salt and vanilla and cinnamon.

Oven to 300

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 1/2 cup coconut oil

• 1 tsp+ vanilla

• 7 cups rolled oats (NOT quick cooking or steel cut!)

• 1 cup each: pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts, chopped (big pieces) pecans, chopped almonds

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 3/4 tsp salt (not kosher)

• 1 c unsweetened coconut flakes

• 1 c dried cranberries

1. Melt sugar, oil, and maple syrup in saucepan. Stir in vanilla

2. In a large bowl (I use my pressure cooker as it’s the largest “bowl” I’ve got on board), combine oats and nuts, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Pour in melted liquid and mix to combine (keep stirring), until it all looks uniformly shiny and there aren’t large patches of dry oats.

3. Pour into a large baking pan (I use a roasting pan)

4. Bake for an hour or more, adding in the coconut flakes after about 40 minutes. Stir every 20 minutes. You want the oats to just think about turning brown.

5. Let cool COMPLETELY before stirring in the cranberries and before spooning into an airtight container.

6. Lasts up to a month if the container is sealed well after each opening.

Lots going on in this granola!

Notes:

Nuts.com is a good place to source things like pumpkin seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes (big ones!), and nuts in general.

Trader Joes has good prices on almonds and walnuts.

Costco might as well, but watch the sizes of the bags. Nuts can go rancid; if you buy a large container, you might want to keep it in the freezer to help keep it fresh.

Penzeys is a fabulous source for vanilla and cinnamon - and other spices in general.