Homemade Granola

I love granola and am pretty sure that I have always loved it.  I was never much into the chewy granola bars, I loved the crunchy more sturdy ones.  I always felt oh so healthy when eating granola.  It’s oats and nuts and sometimes fruit!  How can that be bad?

I also always purchased granola because for some reason I had it in my head that it was hard to make.  Eventually I started realizing how much money I was spending on granola because granola is flipping expensive!  I also became aware of how much sugar was in the granola.  I’m not a big sugar person anyway and when I realized just how much sugar is in manufactured granola, I sort of silently freaked out. I personally don’t want or need that much sugar in my life.

It was at this point that I started making my own granola.  It was a rocky start that resulted in plenty of burnt batches.  Lesson learned, granola is a project of love. Slow, easy, and steady will get you the results you want.  Aggression and haste will just leave you frustrated and unsatisfied.  None of us want that!

Andrea's Granola

Andrea’s Homemade Granola

  • 4C Old Fashioned Oats
  • 2TBSP Light Olive oil
  • 1/4C Maple Syrup
  • 3tsp of ground cinnamon
  • Fresh grated nutmeg, to taste (I do about 1/2 tsp)
  • 1C each crushed raw pecans and raw walnuts
  • 1/2C Unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1C dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl combine, oats, nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, oil and maple syrup.  It takes about 3 minutes of stirring for everything to combine.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

On a large cookie sheet, line with foil and spray with nonstick spray (or use a mister with oil of your choice).  Dump oat mixture onto the cookie sheet and spread out.  Place in the oven and stir the mixture about every 10 minutes.  Bake the oat mixture for about 25-30 minutes.  The last five minutes of baking, mix in the coconut.

When the granola is browned and crispy remove from oven and allow to cool.  About 15 minutes.  When the granola is cooled, mix in the cranberries.  Store the granola in an airtight container.  Mixture keeps for ages so no worries about it turning on you.

Once I started making my own granola, I have turned into a huge granola snob.  Either I don’t care for the taste of other granolas or the ingredient list isn’t something that appeals to me.  Recently I came across some granola that had powdered milk as an ingredient.  Wha the what?  Why in the world is there powdered milk in granola?

So yeah, I’m totally picky now.

This is a loose granola.  This granola will not provide you with big cluster pieces.  In order to get that kind of granola, a lot of oil and liquid sugars are needed and that’s not something I’m down with.  If that’s what you like, feel free to up the oil and maple syrup amounts and see what happens. :)

This granola is awesome with yogurt, sprinkled on top of oatmeal, or even salads.  In fact I’m currently out and need to make more!  I suppose I should get moving.  The smell of baking granola is amazing and instantly makes the house that much cozier.

14 thoughts on “Homemade Granola

  1. Yum! Thanks for sharing the recipe! We started making our own granola bars for the same reason – store bought ones had too much sugar and were too expensive! We need to get back into that habit. It would be fun to make loose granola too! :)

    • If you guys try to make some granola let me know how it turned out! :D

      Kilax, I make a sort of oat bar thingie that I usually eat before runs. I love those things! :D

      Rachel, egg whites! That sounds interesting and I might give that a try soon!

  2. Delicious! I’m a granola snob since I started making my own, too. Hehe.

    Also, you CAN get the nice big clusters without tons of sugar/fats- check out DietGirl’s recipe: http://www.dietgirl.org/dietgirl/2009/09/pretty-darn-healthy-homemade-granola.html

    I don’t use quite as much water as she calls for and I also add twice the amount of cinnamon and don’t include the nuts (I’m not a fan of nuts/seeds in my granola). It’s my new favourite granola recipe that I use.

  3. I’m bookmarking this and will be making it soon. Dried cranberries beat raisins any day of the week for me. All the ingredients are my favorites. It looks so great!

  4. kkreft says:

    Do you make your own yogurt to go with it?
    I’ve been making my own yogurt for about 3 months now, and I find it to be superior to store-bought – and cheaper, too!

  5. Hi Andrea,

    I am going through your blog looking for some easy recipes. I am going to ask you a question, do you have any low carb or non fat recipes ? I know you said you would help me, but I thought I would look at your blog first. I love granola, love it ! But, I am looking for something crunchy that my husband could munch on in moderation. Just like one serving. Maybe like 1/2 a cup of this. I can tell this makes a lot ?!? Yeah – it if takes 4 cups of oats. Thanks in advance !! :)

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