Over time, some recipes are tweaked and adjusted to suit our changing palettes or to simply improve and perfect an existing recipe. Doesn't this happen in your kitchen too? It's partly why I never even bother to write down recipes, I'm more of a "jot down an idea rather than a recipe" kind of girl - always tweaking the idea each time I make a dish. Baking, of course, is a little different. We need to pay more attention there and consider the science of it all. There is definitely a success/fail outcome to consider, and so we pay attention and write careful notes.
One of the first posts I shared on this blog was a recipe for our homemade granola, I realized recently that I've been making our granola nearly the same way for at least seven years now. I no longer use powdered milk and I'm using coconut oil these days. As far as my granola preferences go, it's a perfect recipe. And oh so simple, just as I think granola should be.
There are countless ways to make good granola - the nut, seed, and dried fruit mix-in combinations are endless. But I always come back to one tried and true list of ingredients. It happens to be one without a lot of extras.
As I begin the task of organizing categories on this blog, as well as building a recipe page to better index those that are shared here, I'm trying to make better sense of a few things. I realized our granola recipe gets searched out a lot by googlers and it sure could stand a better post with prettier (bigger) photos, with a printable recipe option to boot.
(This is also another sample recipe from my Whole Food Kitchen workshop, in class I demonstrate through a cooking video just how simple this is to make.)
My recipe calls for maple syrup as the sweetener, but I live in an area where it's an abundant harvest. I know it can be quite cost prohibitive in other areas so feel free to substitute honey in equal amounts. If you avoid gluten you can use your favorite flour substitute in place of the whole wheat. I haven't tried coconut flour but I imagine that would be good.
Homemade Granola
Ingredients:
- 6 cups uncooked oats
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Directions:
preheat oven to 300°F
- In a large bowl combine oats, coconut, flour, spices, salt, mix well.
- In a saucepan heat the coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla until warm. Pour this over the oat mixture and mix well.
- Spread evenly on 1 or 2 cookie sheets, press into pan with back of spoon (this will help create “clumps” - the more you press together, the clumpier it is). Bake at 300°F for 40 minutes, carefully stirring half way through.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in pan(s). As it cools it becomes harder, more granola like. Store in airtight glass container. I use a gallon or half gallon jar, depending on the size batch I make.
Print Recipe - Homemade Granola
After you've made a batch of granola, the options are endless as to what can be done with it. Yogurt parfait, green salad topping (trust me, it's good), by the handful snacking, morning cereal with fresh homemade almond milk, sprinkled over vanilla ice cream... and my new favorite, mixed with warm applesauce. Oh my, I'm loving it this way right now.
And you? What's your favorite way to enjoy granola?
