Easy Granola
We’re a household of 7 (!) this month because we’re lucky enough to have Brenna (a precious old friend, cookie discoverer, one-time contributor to this blog!, and generally amazing human being) staying with us. Seven people at breakfast usually means lots of breakfast needs – Eric wants eggs, Stella wants biscotti, Vesper wants porridge, Domino wants everything, Aurora wants whatever is easiest for everyone else, and Brenna wants granola. And then: magically, mysteriously, granola is in the house and suddenly everyone wants granola.
We almost never make granola because I always thought it was a huge pain in the ass. Why? Because the only recipe I’d ever followed – the one I posted about back in 2013 – was Eric’s, and so it was a high-protein, high-effort, high-volume number, with an endless ingredients list and equally endless clean up. Why? Because my husband, despite my best efforts, often eats based not on pleasure but on nutritional content. And protein? Is his thing.
After hoovering down the last few oats in far too many bags of the too-small, overpriced, over-sweetened store-bought kind, I decided to make my own. It’s easy, it’s delicious, it’s as clumpy and crunchy as you want it. Don’t like raisins? Don’t add raisins. Love dried mango in your breakfast bowl? Done! This recipe – if you can even call it that – is so straightforward and effortless. Here’s to breakfasts that are effortless, too!
GRANOLA
The easiest and best homemade granola. It takes 35 mins start to finish, and uses only one bowl. It’s also easily fiddled with: just add what you like: chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit, goji berries, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, vanilla extract, whatever! (If you like your granola with chocolate chips, make sure you add them after it’s completely cooked and cooled.) This recipe makes enough to fill one of those really large (57 fl. oz.) jars and keeps for months.
1/2 cup oil (I used a mix of olive oil & walnut oil, but use whatever you want)
1/2 cup honey, maple syrup or golden syrup
1 teaspoon salt (this will make it quite salty, but I like it that way)
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup almonds (whole or sliced) & 1 cup raisins or other dried, chopped fruit
whatever else you want: sunflower/pumpkin seeds, cocoa nibs, flaked coconut, etc.
Preheat oven to 300F/150C. Line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
In a large bowl, mix the oil, honey/syrup. Add in all the other ingredients (except maybe the dried fruit*) and mix well. Spread out the mixture evenly on the baking trays, and bake for 15 minutes then stir and return to the oven for another 10 – 30 minutes, until the oats are golden crisp but not burnt. Remove from the oven and – especially if you love clumpy, crunchy granola – don’t touch it until it’s completely cool.
Store granola in an airtight container (like a jar); it lasts for ages! Serve with yogurt or milk.
* dried fruit like raisins, goji berries, chopped figs or apricots will tend to burn, so if you don’t like that charcoaly taste, feel free to add them in halfway through cooking when you give your granola a stir or even at the very end, once your granola is out of the oven.
