I recently learned that granola is a 3.7 billion commodity. If you buy grocery store granola and want to lower your food budget, granola is very easy to make and its ingredients cost a fraction of the cost of packaged granola. My recipe takes ten minutes of active work, thirty minutes in the oven, and lets you control the amount of sweetness. I use organic maple syrup or organic dark blue agave syrup, since both have a lower glycemic index than honey or sugar. Speaking of sugar, if you buy store-bought granola, please read the ingredient list . . .
If you read the labels, you may be stunned to see how many different types of sweeteners are used and how many grams of sugar are in each serving of commercially produced granola.
I looked at the nutritional content of two popular granolas – Nature Valley (made by General Mills) and Bear Naked (made by Kelloggs’). Nature Valley Oats and Honey Crunchy Granola’s second ingredient is sugar, and it also contains honey and brown sugar syrup. A quarter cup serving has 7 grams of added sugar, 2 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fiber.
Bear Naked doesn’t fare much better. Bear Naked’s Fruit and Nut Granola has brown sugar as its second ingredient, as well as honey, cane sugar, and brown rice syrup. A quarter cup serving has 13 grams of sugar (11 grams of added sugar), 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.
You can do a whole lot better in your own kitchen where you can control the sweetness, as well as the protein and fiber content of the breakfast cereal your family eats.
Make granola is dead easy.
Assemble your ingredients – and opt for organic if that’s in your budget.
Mix all your dry ingredients together in a large bowl – along with any of the optional ingredient suggestions that strike your fancy.
Gently heat the organic olive oil and the organic maple syrup (or organic blue agave syrup) in a small sauce pan for a minute or two until combined. Off heat, stir in the organic vanilla extract. Then pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well.
Line two rimmed baking sheet pans with parchment paper, non-stick aluminum foil or silicone mats. Divide the granola between the two baking sheets and bake them for about 15 minutes at 300 degrees F. Then turn the over down to 275 degrees and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut chips. Bake for another 10-12 minutes, until it is golden brown. I put mine on the stove top to cool, but add my dried cranberries and dried cherries on top of the warm granola so that they plump up and soften.
Speaking of dried fruit, I’d like to give a shout out to Patience Fruit & Co., a cool organic fruit company from Quebec. I began getting their dried fruit from Thrive Market a few years ago, and I l0ve that they have apple juice sweetened products, as well as unsweetened cranberries. We get so accustomed to eating dried fruit that has so much added sugar, that it is really refreshing to find a company that picks organic produce at its sweetest and subtlety enhances that sweetness – or not!
When the granola is cool transfer it to clean glass jars to store in your pantry. For a minimal amount of time and effort, you have a couple of weeks’ worth of your own fresh, healthy granola without having to go to the store!
- 3 cups organic old fashioned rolled oats (Bob’s Red Mill is my preferred brand)
- ½ cup organic unsweetened coconut chips
- 1 cup sprouted organic pumpkin seeds (either with or without sea salt, at your option)
- ½ cup raw organic sunflower seeds
- 1 cup shelled organic dry roasted pistachios (chop lightly, if desired)
- ¼ cup organic oat bran or wheat bran (raw or toasted)
- ½ - 1 teaspoon organic cinnamon (optional)
- ½ - 1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
- ¼ cup raw or toasted organic wheat germ (optional)
- ¼ cup organic flax seeds (optional)
- ½ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup organic maple syrup (or organic blue agave syrup)
- 1 T. organic pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup organic unsweetened coconut chips (added after 15 minutes of cooking)
- ⅔ cup dried cherries
- ⅔ cup organic dried cranberries
- Heat oven to 300°F.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, along with any or all of the optional ingredients that you may wish to include.
- Heat the olive oil and the maple syrup (or agave syrup) in a small sauce pan until warm and combined. Off heat, stir in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, non-stick aluminum foil, or a silicone mat. Divide the granola mixture and spread evenly over both lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the sheet pans and stir the granola to make sure it is evenly baking. Add the remaining ½ cup of unsweetened coconut chips and mix in well. (Putting half of the coconut chips mid-way is the key to having them come out perfectly toasted.)
- Turn down the oven to 275°F and bake for about 10-12 more minutes until the granola is golden brown and dry. Remove from oven and put on rack or trivets to cool.
- Put the dried cherries and dried cranberries on top of the still warm granola to help them soften and plump for about five minutes and then stir them in.
- Let the granola continue to cool to room temperature before transferring to glass jars or a storage container.
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PS: I know it has been a very long time since my last post, but we had some major property damage when we returned from a trip to Australia in March and it has taken more time, money, and effort than I care to think about to get our home back to normal. The good news is that I have a beautiful new kitchen and look forward to getting back into cooking and posting – instead of living in a rented apartment while the work was being done!
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