This healthy Granola recipe introduced a healthy breakfast and snack into our diet. It became our traditional German breakfast, similar to "muesli".
Knowing heavily sugar-laden store-bought cereal wasn't healthy, I looked for an alternative. Store-bought granola seemed better, but the sugar content was still too high.
I started experimenting and the results are below. This healthy homemade granola recipe is never the same. Though the procedure is the same, the ingredients keep changing. It depends on what's on sale, what we crave, and what's in the cupboard.
It's so delicious and nourishing to nibble on just the way it is. Put some in a baggie to take on your next hike. You've got homemade trail mix!
The basic recipe is below. The hints section will show how to alter it. Baking is the only tricky part. You MUST stay in the kitchen, but only for a half hour.
Healthy Granola Recipe
Ingredients:
6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups nuts, see hints below
2 cups mixed seeds, see hints below
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1 cup raisins, see hints below
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350° F
In a large bowl, put oats, nuts, and seeds. Stir in honey or maple syrup. You can tell when it's well stirred in - the oats will appear moist.
Spread on 2 metal cookie sheets with rims.
Bake 10 minutes, stir, exchange positions of sheets.
Repeat twice, being careful not to let granola burn. The main idea is to get all the granola nicely toasted. If you don't stir it, the outside areas will brown and possibly burn before the rest of the granola has browned. Watch closely during last 10 minutes, and remove earlier if browning too quickly.
When cold, add dried raisins and store in sealable containers. Keeps well at room temperature
Hints:
Use any combination of nuts. Almonds, cashews, peanuts, soya nuts, corn nuts - these all work great
Use any combination of seeds. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds are super (no shells, please)
Add dried fruits, such as apricots (cut into quarters), prunes (cut into quarters), currants, cranberries, strawberries, cherries along with the raisins, about an extra cup. If you prefer, you can add these dried fruits after 20 minutes of baking to make them a bit chewier. To cut prunes or apricots easily, use scissors.
Add bran, wheat germ, almost anything to the oats. Try something new and let me know how it works
Ingredients:
