Homemade Granola

I am a granola and yogurt addict. I'll admit it with glee. I love it, all of it. I think that it might just be my favorite thing to eat... with fresh raspberries on top... oh joy... oh rapture... But the only problem about granola and yogurt is that it is super expensive, especially when you are addicted and want to eat it for breakfast EVERY morning. The average box of granola at the store costs about $5 and the amount inside is only enough to last a good granola addict like myself about two days... at the max. Yogurt isn't much cheaper, costing about $3 for a 32 oz size (which in our house literally only lasts a day).

So, it wasn't long after Jon and I were married we realized that in order to afford my granola and yogurt addiction on a poor student's budget we would have to learn how to make it ourselves... and we have. We've never really used a recipe, we've just experimented. Over the years some of the experiments turned out fantastic while others went straight into the garbage can (well, in reality it never actually made it to the garbage because Jon will eat ANYTHING, literally... even totally burnt granola). Some of my favorite memories of our early marriage are of Jon and I making granola together in our teeny tiny yellow kitchen and arguing over who was really to blame for letting it burn. For the first year of our marriage I think we ate some form of granola and yogurt EVERY morning. Granola making is still something we LOVE to do together and I am happy to report that now we hardly ever argue over who burns it.

I thought I'd share my favorite recipe for granola. I have to admit that I never really measure anything I just put in what looks good and the batches turn out different every time. I've tried to make a guess at what I think I usually put in, but feel free to experiment... that is half the fun.

Heathon's Homemade Granola

In a BIG bowl or pot mix these dry ingredients together:

10 cups oats ( I like rolled oats better than quick oats-- they taste MUCH better and are healthier for you)

1 cup wheat germ ( you can also used oat germ or ground flax seed or anything else healthy and powdery)

1 cup whole wheat flour (you could really use any type of flour... you just need something powdery to help hold the granola together)

2 bags of coconut (one would probably be fine, I just really like coconut)

You can add anything else you like... corn flakes, rice crispies (sometimes I buy the little bags of rice puffs... Jon calls them "maggots"... and put those in), sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon, almonds, peanuts, any other type of nut. One of Jon's and my favorites is apricot seeds (the seed inside the pit of an apricot) they taste like almonds but are fruity. They are REALLY good in granola, but we only get them a few times a year.

You can also add things like raisins and dried fruit but I like to wait till after I've baked the granola to add the raisins because sometimes they get burned or really dried out when you bake them. But go ahead and experiment and you can decide how you like it.

In a separate bowl mix these wet ingredients together:

2 cups of water

1 cup brown sugar ( you can also use honey, maple syrup, or another type of sweetener... and if you want it sweeter just add more-- I don't like it too sweet)

2 tsp vanilla

or

1 tsp maple extract

or

1 tsp cloves, 1 Tbsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp lemon juice

depending on how you want it to taste.

Mix them together till the brown sugar dissolves and then gradually pour it over the dry ingredients. Make sure you mix it really well before you add more of the water so that your clumps don't get too big. I like to have the granola really loose with only a few small clumps so I try not to let it get too wet (it also takes longer too cook if it is really wet). If it starts to get too wet and your clumps are really big you can add more oats and flour to help loosen it up.

Spoon on to ungreased cookie sheets and spread it out so it is not too thick. Cook for 30 min at 300 degrees. All ovens are different so you might have to play around with the time and temperature. It turns out best if you cook it at a low temperature for a long time rather than a high temperature for a short time. If you start to smell the granola then you know that it almost done. The granola will still be a little "wet" when you take it out of the oven but when it dries it will harden up. If it doesn't harden up after sitting on the counter for about 20 min stick it back in for a little while. Don't forget to stir it and break it up with a spatula RIGHT when it comes out of the oven or else it will dry into one big granola bar.

Speaking of granola bars, if you want to make granola bars just add more water to the recipe and then pack the wet granola into a cake pan. If you make them thicker they will be chewy and if you pack it thinner then they will be crunchy. They need to be cooked for about twice as long as normal granola (abt an hour at 300 degrees). We like to add peanut butter and chocolate chips to our granola bars.

Granola is remarkably easy and you can't really mess it up unless you burn it. I haven't ever calculated how much it costs to make but I am sure that it is MUCH cheaper than buying it. This recipe makes about 20 cups or more of granola, which is easily the equivalent of three or four of the small boxes you get at the store. Not to mention that almost all the types of granola you buy at the store (even the type you can get in bulk at the health food store) are packed with sugar. When you make your own you can control how sugary it is and put healthy things like flax seed into it.

I make a batch of granola about once a week and it usually lasts Jon, Asher and I the whole week. It is best when eaten with homemade yogurt, but since this post is already really long I'll post the recipe for homemade yogurt in another post (maybe tomorrow?).