It's been more than 3 months since I last posted something. Well, I went away for a while and when I came back I just didn't feel motivated to post anything.
I think I first wanted to make my own granola after the spring break camping trip. I started with Alton Brown's recipe but have since modified it. I think I can call it my own now, ha!
Granola is really very easy to make and yet tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff. I think my granola is very tasty if I am allowed to say so myself. But if you don't believe me, then I could quote a friend who thinks it's "dope". I think what really makes it great is that I use good ingredients. The photos in this collage go like this: dry ingredients, wet ingredients mixed in (I kinda wanted to give you an idea of how dark the mixture is), the mixture ready to hit the oven, and last but not least, the final product.
So here's how simple it is. You basically have a lot of room to modify this. A lot of people like to add dry coconut flakes. Well, my relationship with coconut is a funny one. I love coconut cream, and coconut water but you have to give me a lot of money for me to want to eat coconut flakes. Just make sure you have a total of about 5 cups of dry ingredients.
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups old-fashioned oats (use the GF kind if you want to make it GF)
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup nuts (I often use almonds and/or walnuts)
1/4 cup brown sugar
~1/4 cup flax seeds (actually I normally add 2 palmfuls)
3/4 tsp salt*
1 tsp ground cinnamon
~1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4c and 1Tsp oil**
1/4c maple syrup
1 Tsp honey
2 Tsp cocoa powder
1 cup of mixed dried fruits. I use cranberries and chopped figs and apricots.
*I like somewhat of a pronounced taste of salt in my granola but if you don't like it, use less.
**You might want to change the amount of liquid a bit depending on how much you want your granola to cluster.
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 250ºF.
In a large bowl, mix the first group of ingredients together. Make sure the brown sugar is fairly evenly distributed.
In a small bowl, mix the second group of ingredients together until homogeneous. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT just consume this mixture straight up no matter how tempting that might be. Or go ahead and do it, just don't tell anyone! Then add this mixture to the dry ingredients, mix well.
Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper. Spread the mixture evenly. Bake for ~1h. Remove and let cool completely in the pan. I have learned that you can skip the parchment paper altogether and remove the granola from the pan immediately after it's done but you will end up with no clusters at all. It will still taste wonderful though. Mix the dried fruits in and there you have it. I said it was easy, right?
