Opa's Granola / Trail Mix (Müsli)

by: Gerhild Fulson  / Oma Gerhild shares German recipes rooted in family tradition.

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Love this granola! Make it yourself and make it as healthy as you want. So many variations!

This is (IMO) the BEST Granola recipe because it's so easy and so healthy. It's become our traditional German breakfast, similar to müsli.

Hubby, that's OPA, uses it as a late-night snack! He'll even put it on his late-night ice cream as a topping.

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!

Granola versus Müsli versus Trail Mix

Is there a difference between granola, müsli, and trail mix?

Yes! They often share ingredients, but they're prepared and enjoyed differently.

Granola combines oats, nuts, and seeds with a sweetener such as honey or maple syrup, then gets baked until toasted. Enjoy it with milk or yogurt, or eat it by the handful as Opa does.

Müsli is usually an unbaked mixture of oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, often without added sweetener. Serve it with milk or yogurt, or soak it overnight in the refrigerator for a softer breakfast.

Trail mix is a portable snack, typically made with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, sometimes with chocolate or granola added. Pack a handful for a hike or an afternoon nibble.

Here's Opa's fav ... with lots of dried apricots and nuts

How and Why I Created This Recipe

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.

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I started experimenting and the recipe for granola is below. Use it as a basic recipe. Then, use the hints section to make changes.

The result?

Delicious, yet different granola every time. 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.

The basic granola recipe is posted here. The hints section will show how to alter it. Baking is the only tricky part. You MUST stay in the kitchen, but only for about half hour.

Ready to make this granola recipe?

Print Recipe

Opa's Granola Recipe – Trail Mix Recipe

This is (IMO) the BEST Granola recipe because it's so easy, so healthy and so similar to müsli.

Hubby, that's OPA, uses it as a late-night snack! He'll even put it on his late-night ice cream as a topping.

Prep Time:

10 minutes

Bake Time:

30 minutes

Total Time:

40 minutes

Servings:

Makes about 10 cups

Ingredients:

• 6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups nuts, see hints below
• 2 cups mixed seeds, see hints below
• ½ cup honey or maple syrup
• 1 cup raisins, see hints below

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. 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.
3. Spread on 2 metal cookie sheets with rims.
4. Bake 10 minutes, stir, exchange positions of sheets.
5. 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.
6. When cold, add raisins and store in airtight containers. Keeps well at room temperature

Notes/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. Need a way to cut these easy? Try this method.
• Add bran, wheat germ, almost anything to the oats. Try something new and let me know how you changed my recipe for granola into yours.
• For a homemade trail mix, you can add a bit more honey so the mix will have "clusters" of mix.

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Unless otherwise noted recipe, images and content © Just like Oma | www.quick-german-recipes.com

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From Oma's heart
to your table

Complete your set today - order now!

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Hi, I'm Oma Gerhild! As a food writer and cookbook author, I'm always looking to find ways to pass on my German heritage using local ingredients. Quick and easy. That's my goal. Wunderbar food. That's the result.