Golden Granola and Basics to Making Granola

There are endless variations to granola and which ever I made I found them all delicious. It’s such an easy task and I love that you can let go your creativity do it’s thing: play with different ingredients, find combinations you like best. Once you make it a few times, you’ll get a hang of which ingredients go well together and which are your favs…

My basic rules for granola

1. You need a base grain (I usually take rolled oats or buckwheat)
2. Then something sweet (coconut sugar, agave syrup, maple syrup, rice malt syrup, blended dates…)
3. And oil (I use coconut or extra virgin olive oil)
Now you can add:
4. Nuts (almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts…)
5. Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame…)
6. Spices (cinnamon, ginger, vanilla…)
7. Dried fruits (goji, currants, cranberries, raisins, coconut…)
It is actually much simpler than you think, and fast as well. It takes me less then an hour to prepare and bake two kinds at the same time. Preparation of each will take you around 10 minutes and the baking takes 15-20 minutes. So if you thought that it’s a lot of trouble, it’s not.

 

Granola is an absolute staple in our house and whenever we get close to running out, someone issues a warning! We always have at least two kinds available: a chocolate and non chocolate one. We love having granola with chia pudding, alone with yoghurt or milk (my favorites are homemade walnut or hazelnut), or by itself as a desert.

Golden Granola

In this fragrant crunchy granola I used rolled oats, sunflower seeds, coconut, walnuts, lots of vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, raisins, cranberries, goji berries, coconut oil, coconut sugar… Well, it was just delicious.

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Dry ingredients

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup walnuts, cut into pieces
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of ginger
1 tsp vanilla
2 pinches Himalayan salt
2 tbsp coconut sugar
Wet ingredients
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/3-1/2 cup agave or maple syrup
2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup cranberries
1/4 cup goji berries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 140 celsius. I use the Ventilation mode
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
3. Then add wet ingredients mixed together separately
4. Mix it together until everything’s evenly coated
5. Check for sweetness and add more syrup if needed
6. Spread on baking tray lined with parchment paper
7. Bake for about 15 minutes
8. Be careful not to burn it. Check and mix after about 6-7 minutes of baking
9. You will need to mix it a few times until done to get it to bake evenly
10. When it’s kind of dry and golden, it’s done. It will become crunchier as it cools down.
11. Take it out of the oven, add dried fruits and mix well
11. Let it cool down completely before storing in an airtight jar
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If you liked this healthy granola recipe check out The Chocolate Sesame Coconut Granola. Another staple in my home.