Granola

There is a lot of granola out there that you can buy but I’m always disappointed either with the flavor or the freshness or both.    And most include some kind of dried fruit which I like but not in granola.

I’m pretty sure my daughter steered me to this recipe (she will have to confirm) and I’ve been making and tweaking it for several years now.  It can be a nutritious snack or a simple breakfast with milk.

The recipe makes quite a bit which is great but you do need to store it in the refrigerator.  So you will need to make some room for it.

The one not so common ingredient is the brown rice syrup. I used to be able to find it in Hannaford but they no longer carry it.  I now have to go to Mrs. Green’s, which is in the town next to ours.  Not convenient but I think it makes a difference.  In a pinch though, I have substituted honey.

Granola  (adapted from  Orangette)

Dry Ingredients:

5 cups rolled oats (I prefer Bob’s Red Mill Extra Thick Rolled Oats but you can use Old Fashioned Quaker Oats, not the Quick Oats)

1, 8 ounce package of Diamond Chopped Pecans (I have tried many different brands, I like this one the best)

1, 7.25 ounce container of dry roasted shelled unsalted Sunflower Seeds (I use the Shoprite brand)

1, 1.87 ounce container of McCormick Sesame Seeds (in the spice section of supermarket)

1 cup dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

Liquid Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce (any jarred brand in the supermarket, even the store brand is ok)

1/3 cup brown rice syrup (Lundberg Sweet Dreams Brown Rice Syrup is what I can find around me)

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons canola vegetable oil

Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Spray 2 large rimmed baking pans with canola spray.

In a VERY large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.  Stir first with a utensil, my choice is a rubber spatula, and then using your hands (clean please), mix well breaking up any brown sugar.

Combine the liquid ingredients, stirring with a whisk.

Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.

Spread the mixture evenly on the two pans.  Bake for 40 minutes, switching the pans every 10 minutes.

Let granola cool for 1 hour.  It will seem soft coming out of the oven but will crisp up after cooling.

Break into chunks and place in a very large container or 2 plastic one gallon ziploc freezer bags.  Store in refrigerator.  It keeps for a really long time.  I had a small amount for 6 months that I had forgotten about and it still tasted good.

ingredients:

ready to combine:

after mixing:

spread in pans:

ready to bake: (whoa, I need a new oven)

just out of the oven:

broken up into chunks:

ready to go into the refrigerator:

yum!