Fruit and nut granola
A good bowl of granola is delicious, satisfying and healthy—but not all granolas are alike. Glance at the ingredients on your average store-bought option and it’ll likely list a number of processed sugars and sweeteners. So—make your own! It’s easy and the best way to limit unwanted ingredients.
(Additional benefits: making it in bulk is cheaper(!), and, once you’ve got the basics down, you can play with the mix to make your own variety.
Ingredients:
4 cups rolled oats
3 cups of nuts/seeds
In this recipe:
1 cup almonds
1 cup pecans
½ flax seeds
½ pepitas
More suggestions:
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Coconut
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
2 cups dried fruit
In this recipe:
1 cup of cranberries
½ cup chopped dried apricots
½ cup chopped candied ginger
Mix it up with:
Raisins
Dried cherries
Dried apple rings
Dried goji berries
Dried mango
Banana chips
Spices
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves or allspice
Sweeteners
1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate (allow to thaw a bit before mixing in)
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup honey or maple syrup
Optional:
½ cup millet, uncooked (adds crunch)
Tools:
Big bowl
Baking sheet
Ladle
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F
2. Mix oats, nuts and seeds (including optional millet) and spices in a large bowl.
3. Add sweeteners and mix until oats and nuts are well coated. If you like your granola on the sweet side, substitute more honey/maple syrup/agave syrup in place of the juice concentrate.
4. Spread mixture out on a baking sheet and bake at 325°F until almost dry (about 40 minutes), stir every 10 minutes. Take it out before it’s completely dry—it’ll crisp up a bit as it cools on the countertop.
5. Stir in the dried fruit and allow it to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
6. Enjoy! Mix with yogurt, milk, nut milk, fresh fruit or smoothies, and keep experimenting with different fruit, nut and spice combos for variety.
For other granola ideas, check out these shows: