Pantry Basics: Best Granola

We love granola at our house and eat it almost every day. My daughter loves it for a snack and I love knowing exactly what the ingredients are in that snack.

I like, too, that it's very flexible. Don't have nuts? Leave 'em out. Want to use up a half-eaten bag of dried apricots? Cut them up and throw them in. I sometimes use all rolled oats and sometimes use a 5-grain mix I get from Bob's Red Mill.

Years ago, the only recipes I could find for granola called for baking it at a low temperature for 2 hours! Ugh - I did it only once then didn't make it again because I didn't want my oven on for that long, plus it was just more time involved.

Then I found a recipe in one of the Tightwad Gazette books that only needed 20 minutes of baking, and after tweaking it to our tastes, it became one of our favorites.

It also makes 10 cups of granola for about $2.86 plus the add-ins you choose (nuts and/or dried fruit). It's the add-ins that can make it expensive, and these are totally your choice. Otherwise, the boxed granola can't come close to the price of homemade, plus (you knew it was coming...) you know exactly what's in it!




In a small saucepan, add brown sugar and 1/2 c. of oil.

Here's a trick I use: use a cup measure, fill it half full with oil and swirl it around a little before pouring it in the pan. This will make the honey we'll put in it next come right out without having to scrape.




Now add the cup of honey (and watch it pour out with ease!).

Place the pot over medium heat, stir, and let cook while preparing the oat mixture, stirring every now and then.

This is what I had today: regular rolled oats, sunflower seeds (did you know all the great health benefits of sunflower seeds?), wheat germ and wheat bran. I really like to add ground flax seed, but I was out.

Put about 8 cups oats in a lightly oiled roasting pan. Add a cup of the seeds and 1/2 c. each of the germ and bran. This is dependent on what's available - basically, there needs to be 10 cups of dry ingredients, and rolled oats and/or grains should account for about 8 cups.

And I decided to live on the wild side and add come chopped walnuts in it this time.

This is an ingredient you don't see in a lot of homemade recipes - flour. But I noticed looking at boxed granola that there was always flour, and I wanted to create more "chunks" like they have in the commercial cereals, so I tried it, and it seems to work. I add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup, usually whole wheat, but you can use any flour since it's being used to add to the "clumpiness" factor.

Next, if you're feeling in the mood, you can add a little cinnamon. Or not.

Now the sugar should be all melted in the pot so remove it from the heat. Add a tablespoon to the sugar mixture - it will boil a little, just stir it down. This is not like cinnamon - you don't want to skip this! What is it about vanilla that just makes everything taste better?

Pour the sugar mixture in the oat mixture in a stream all around the pan. Take a large spoon and start mixing it together. Don't get discouraged! It will seem like it can't possibly cover all the dry ingredients, but just keep mixing, using the spoon to get all the edges and smooshing with the back of the spoon, and it will eventually look like this:

All evenly coated. And it really only takes a few minutes, I swear! Now, some might like to use their hands, and I did a couple of times which makes me want to mention two things:

1. The sugar mixture is HOT.

2. It's really very sticky. Very sticky.

So I like to use my large stainless steel spoon. It makes me happy.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Stir from the outside in, then put back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes or until browning around the edges.

Now, I've found that if you cool it for about 20 minutes without stirring there will be more of the chunks that we like. If you don't want larger pieces, stir it while it's cooling. You will have to stir from the outside after 20 minutes or it will stick to the pan.

If it ever does stick badly (like if you've forgotten about it because you're outside in the garden - not that I've ever done that), put it back in a warm oven for a few minutes, and it should come up without a problem.

Add any dried fruit you want (these are cranberries) while it's cooling and stir to incorporate.

Oregon Cottage's Best Granola (Printable Version)

• 1/2 c. brown sugar or sucanat
  
• 1/2 cup oil (olive or coconut)
• 1 c. honey (using 1/2 maple syrup adds a good flavor, too)
  
• 1 TB. vanilla
• 8 c. rolled oats or other rolled grains
• 1/2 c. sunflower seeds or other nuts
• 1 c. total of any of the following: ground flax seed, wheat germ, wheat or oat bran.
• 1-2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour
• 1 c. dried fruit (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix sugar, oil, and honey in a saucepan until dissolved.
3. Meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients (except the fruit, if using) in a lightly oiled large roasting pan.
4. Pour the sugar mixture over the dry ingredients, stirring until evenly coated.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, stir, then bake for 10 to 15 minutes more.
6. Remove from oven and add dried fruit, if using. Let cool about 20 minutes before stirring once or twice and letting cool completely.
7. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 10 cups (easily cut in half to make less, too)


- Jami