Favorite Family Granola

Granola is great fun to make; the variations are endless and there's much scooping and dumping.  It bakes slowly and fills the air with a heavenly aroma.  Then, the soft grains magically cool to crisp, crunchy yumminess.  This is a much healthier and much less expensive alternative to packaged breakfast cereal, a great take-along snack, and a vital component to an elegant tea time yogurt parfait (just layer in a pretty glass with fresh fruit and yogurt). Play with the recipe several times to come up with your family's ultimate favorite granola.

Favorite Family Granola

6 cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped almonds or pecans
3/4 cup coconut or canola oil
1/2 cup real or maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
½ cup flax seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
Up to 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Spray a 13 X 18-inch baking tray or a big roasting pan with nonstick spray.

1. Place the oats, sunflower seeds, and almonds or pecans, flax seeds, sesame seeds, and coconut in a large bowl.
2. Combine the oil, syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla extract, and pour this in. Mix thoroughly. This is truly a great recipe for thorough toddler participate: scoop, dump, mix with clean hands!
3. Stir in the salt, and mix throughly with your hands.
4. Bake for 40 or 50 minutes, stirring every ten minutes.
5. Crumble in sugar as soon as it comes out of the oven. Dump onto a tray to cool. Add any post-baking variations before it cools. The granola will get crunchy as it cools!
6. If there's any left (there never is in my house), store it in a tightly closed jar in the freezer.

Variations to add before baking. This list really could be endless.:

1 cup barley flakes
1 cup oat bran

1 cup raw wheat germ

1 cup millet

Up to 1 cup other kinds of nuts, chopped

(You might have to adjust the wet ingredients depending on the quantity of dry. Just play with this.

Variations to add after baking:

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup roasted soy nuts

Dried fruit
Toasted wheat germ

Comments

[stef]

Thanks for posting this, Elizabeth! I'm off to make some right now! I don't have coconut oil right now, but I do have some coconut flakes (dried unsweetened) that should do nicely.

[Mary Ellen Barrett]

I will try this one out this weekend. Thanks for sharing. BTW I love that bowl! The toddler is adorable too!

[Molly]

Hey Elizabeth, do you have any good nut-free granola recipes? Thanks!

[Ebeth]

Molly,
Leave the nuts out of this recipe. It's fine without them. Can you do sunflower seeds? We often make it with just sunnies and not nuts. Use raw, unsalted if you're putting them in before baking or dry roasted unsalted after baking. Also, millet adds a different texture and crunch where there aren't nuts.

[Patty]

Thanks for this recipe, Elizabeth. It's a hit at our house, and my sister's house too!

[bonnie berko]

Elizabeth
The recipe looks like a lot of work. (boiling water is a lot of work for me) Can't you just package it and sell it in stores?
Its better than the stuff I bought at Whole Foods.