Sunday, January 10, 2010

My Recipe for Granola




Good morning! I wanted to share a recipe for granola with all of you. I've made it for years, and it is always a hit. Who needs store-bought cereal? This stuff is the best!


Thought I'd make a sort of tutorial for you--let me know how you like it!

Here are all the ingredients you'll need:




3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup nuts (I use walnuts and pecans)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds or wheat germ
1/4 cup coconut (optional)
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Just to let you know, I doubled my recipe, so you'll see two pans in my photos. You can double or even triple the recipe and freeze some for later (if you have any left over, that is.) Store granola in your pantry in an airtight container for a week or so. In your freezer if you want to keep it longer.



If you have people in your family who don't like raisins or coconut, just make the basic oat and nut mixture and then let people top it with what they like after it is done.


Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Farenheit. You'll need a large, heavy jelly roll pan or 13 x 9 baking pan.


Pour the oil in your pan and spread around with a paper towel.




Measure all of your dry ingredients in the pan--oats, nuts, sesame seeds and coconut if you are using it.




Place your pan in your preheated oven for 20 minutes. Stir your granola after about 10 minutes or so.




Meanwhile, move to your stove top.




In a small sauce pan, combine the butter, brown sugar and honey and place on medium low heat.





Stir occasionally until all of the butter is melted. Remove from heat and put in vanilla. Stir this mixture until vanilla is combined.






When the 20 minutes is up, remove your pan from the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees Farenheit. Pour the flax seeds on the granola and stir. Then pour the butter mixture over your granola. Stir well to coat.




Place your pan back in the oven for about 10 to 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally. You’ll know when it is done when the butter mixture has coated all of the granola and the granola is toasted golden, but maybe still a bit gooey.


Lay a piece or two of foil out on your counter or table.



When your granola is finished baking, it may still be a bit gooey. It will harden as it cools. Empty your pan onto the foil and allow your granola to cool.




Now is the time to watch for "granola snatchers." :-)







(Oops! Ignore my clean laundry there in the background, I'm telling you about my granola instead of folding my laundry!)




Once your granola has cooled, it is time to serve it up. Here are some things we like to eat with our granola: the kids like it with milk, like cold cereal; I like mine with yogurt with raisins or fresh fruit.




Any way you serve it, you've got some happy folks!


I hope you find time to try this recipe! I've made you a printable page with the recipe.

Click here for your printable recipe!

Let me know how you like it and if you have any new ideas or trouble with the recipe, just let me know!


Happy Sunday!


Lisa :-)

2 comments:

Lynda Nielsen said...

This is great, I think I'm going to have to give it a try. And guess what? I didn't even notice your clean laundry, I was too busy looking at the yummy granola! LOL
Thanks for the Recipe!
Hugs,
Lynda

Tammy said...

This granola looks so yummy Lisa! Thanks for the recipe! :o)