My All-time Favorite Granola
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran or wheat germ
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/4 cup ground flax
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup raisins
handful chocolate chips, optional
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place oats, oat bran/wheat germ, coconut flakes, nuts, flax, brown sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix.
2. Place maple syrup/agave nectar, oil, water, cinnamon, and vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until well combined and just starts to boil. Remove from heat and add to oat mixture. Mix well. You will have to use your hands!
3. Place mixture in 9x13" pan, creating clumps with your hands. I like to make my clumps really large, because they will get broken as you stir and move the granola after it's cooked.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, stir. Bake for 15 more minutes, then add raisins. Bake 15 more minutes, until granola is slightly browned. It's not quite crispy at this point, but if it's started to brown you're okay! It will crisp up as it cools.
5. Remove pan from oven, and add a handful of chocolate chips and stir granola. The chocolate melts and coats the granola and it is awesome! Let your granola cool and crisp. Congratulations on your wonderful snack/breakfast.
I make this about once a week, but I actually quadruple the recipe (the bf and I love our granola). This recipe is really flexible, and you can make it to suit your taste. You can add any kind of nut (I'm on a pecan and almond kick right now). Also, you can use any dried fruit you've got around; I've tried raisins and apricots. Also, I've added crystallized ginger and nutmeg before, too. Just throw in whatever you want! However, if you add too much stuff you might need to add some more liquid to hold everything together. It should be moist enough that you can squeeze the mixture in your hand and it holds its shape. I've tried this recipe with both oat bran and wheat germ, and I think the wheat germ holds together a tiny bit better.
Source of recipe: I've been making this granola for years, and changing it constantly to fit my needs; it's a collection of my tastes.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
very crunchy and clumpy :)
This is totally weird, but when I wrote this recipe I said that the chocolate chips were optional. I explained that I don't like the granola with chocolate chips all that much, but my boyfriend does, so I typically do chocolate chips for half. It creates more of a dessert/snack to have the chocolate, rather than a typical healthy granola that you might have for breakfast.
So, please try it with and without the chocolate chips and see what you like. I'm sorry if this caused any confusion.
I'm so pleased to hear that this recipe is working out well for you guys!
This is really yummy! I wish it would cool down faster. It's not as sweet as I thought it would be, which is a good thing (even though the amount of sugars is cray cray lol). I mostly just added a bunch of things, rather than change stuff. Used wheat germ, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, 1/4 cup both whole and ground flax seeds, agave, almond extract, cranberries, 3 pieces of crystallized ginger, dried apricots (organic and inorganic), and dried mango. The one thing I didn't add was the chocolate chips, but I don't mind :)
I thought this was absolutely delicious. I only used agave, no maple syrup. I added golden raisins, blueberries, dried cranberries and walnuts to it. I also took out half of the oil and added unsweetened apple juice to make it a bit healthier. Still completely crunchy, sweet, and delicious though. I will definitely continue to make this with variations.
I didn't quite follow the recipe, I left alot of ingredients out; and when i used my mini oven it started to burn very quickly...but I turned the heat way down and it crisped up amazingly! I did large chunks and it broke apart like you said, was perfect.
Perfect little bite sized granola chunks.
I used (all organic) rolled oats, wheat bran, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sultanas, chopped dates, coconut oil, water, agave nectar :-)
YUMMY! I like this a lot! Followed recipe exactly, except I added some pumpkin seeds and some dried cranberries! This recipe is a keeper! So easy to make too!
not gonna add the chocolate next time.... blehhh
I didn't have any maple syrup or agave so i just used evaporated cane juice, a little less than 1/4 cup. its in the oven now so we'll see how it works out! :)
This recipe was fantastic!
My mom loved it, my 4 year old son asked for seconds and it was super easy to make!
Thank you for sharing! I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious!
Definitely will be making it a lot more in the future....who knew granola was SO easy to make!