Thursday, March 10, 2011

Easy Granola


Road trips are so fun. I think one of my favorite parts is snacking on the way--reaching into that ever present bag full of goodies, conveniently stashed behind the driver's seat. Ah the joys of propping my feet up on the dash and nibbling away at cookies and crackers and apple slices, not to mention brownies and the occasional gummy worm.

Well, we're going on a road trip this weekend, and I decided to make something new and fun to munch along the way. Above, you see the almost-finished product. I took this picture of the plain granola: rolled oats and some chopped walnuts with maple/brown sugar coating. So very easy! It only took a moment to prepare and bake. I think I'll add some dried cranberries and chocolate chips to enhance the snacking potential.

Here's what I did:

1. Combine 4 cups of rolled oats, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 cup nuts (I used walnuts, but anything goes--sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds... whatever you fancy). Then you set that aside.

2. In a smaller container (I actually used a pint measuring cup so that I didn't have to dirty too many dishes) combine 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey or another thick syrup), 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or canola), 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, and 2-3 tablespoons of water. Mix this up thoroughly so that the sugar is dissolved into the liquid.

3. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir it up. It will look darker and shinier. Then, spread the granola out on a baking sheet and put it in the oven at 325F for about 25 minutes. You'll want to stir the granola and spread it again at the 10 and 20 minute marks to keep the bottom from burning. Once you take it out to cool, the granola was harden and become crunchy (and delicious!)

4. Add fun stuff! Dried cherries, cranberries, or raisins are a great *healthy* touch. Chocolate chips are yummy too. It's always good to be creative.

*note: because of the oil, the granola won't last too long. Be sure to use it up within two weeks... it shouldn't be too hard.

3 comments:

  1. I love granola!! My recipe is on my blog too... it's a bit more complicated than yours... well, it's really not complicated, just more ingredients. haha :) Isn't it fun to throw in whatever you have in the cupboards? My last version had tons of almonds and walnuts, flax seed, coconut, and sunflower seeds. Yum.

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  2. Sounds like a yummy snack, KT, and something healthy we can eat. This ole Grani especially likes it because the recipe is easy and I'm not much of a cook:)

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  3. I use Peggy's recipe and it doesn't have any oil in it at all and keeps for a couple months. I mix 7 cups grain (in the U.S. I mixed it up but here I've only been able to find oatmeal) with 1 to 1-1/2 cups chopped nuts. Meanwhile I'm heating up 1 cup sweetener (your choice, I prefer maple syrup but have used honey, Karo syrup, and homemade sugar syrup with maple flavoring) and 1/2 cup fruit juice (again, your choice). Because I usually use maple syrup I don't add any extracts but if you're using honey or Karo, you might want to add 1 t. vanilla or other extract after you take the liquid off the heat. Pour liquid over oats and nuts, mix well and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, stirring half-way through. Then add whatever else you want :)

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