Monday 23 January 2017

Homemade Summer Granola

Breakfast sets us up for the day ahead, at school or work or home, so it's important it's nutritious and filling. There's always toast on offer at our place but often there's omelette with something green from the garden or buttery mushrooms or homemade breakfast muffins or banana bread drizzled with honey. Porridge is the staple of the cooler months but in Summer it's too hot for porridge so I've started making this delicious oaty granola instead. It's delicious with a thick yoghurt or cold, creamy milk. It's so easy to make too!

Yoghurt topped with a simple, homemade granola. Delicious!

I began with a recipe for granola clusters from Karlynn over at The Kitchen Magpie and simply tweaked it to suit us. I reduced the amount of honey, left out the extra sugar, substituted a nut oil for the canola oil and then I put in the nuts, seeds, coconut and dried fruit we like and that I had in the pantry at the time. Here's how I made it: 

Homemade Summer Granola
(Leave out the nuts and substitute no-nut oil if you have a nut allergy.)

3 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
handful of raw almonds, roughly chopped
handful of coconut flakes
1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch or two of ground rock salt

1/4 cup macadamia nut oil
1/4 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 150C and line a flat baking tray with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the macadamia oil and honey.

3. Whisk together the macadamia oil and honey in a separate jug then pour over dry 
     ingredients.

4.  Mix lightly to coat dry ingredients.

5. Spread mixture out on prepared baking tray. Push together little "clusters" of mixture 
    so they stick together as they bake. 

   (You may like to use the full 1/3cup honey to make clusters stick together more readily. 
     In using less honey, I found my clusters didn't hold together too well.)

6. Bake in oven until lightly golden. (Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn!)

7.  Cool completely then store in airtight containers ready to serve with breakfast. Yum!

Two jars of homemade granola for the pantry.

While I chose to add dried cranberries, almonds, coconut, chia and sunflower seeds to this batch of granola, next time I might choose different dried fruits, nuts and seeds. You can mix in whatever you fancy for a combination that your family loves. Yum!

I hope you enjoyed a hearty, healthy breakfast this morning and that it left you feeling ready for the day ahead.

Meg

p.s. The other thing I like about making our own granola is that I can forgo a cereal box, and the obligatory plastic packet inside that cereal box, when I shop.  Another good reason to make your own!






17 comments:

  1. Good morning Meg, I have my homemade muesli every weekday morning, I always joke that it is the main reason I get up! I love a really good wholesome muesli/granola and yours looks just lovely. Have a lovely day.
    Fi

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    1. Hi, Fiona. What a healthy way to start your day:) I love that this is so simple, so easy to make up a batch for brekkie. I find it keeps well too. Meg:)

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  2. I've just started making my own muesli/granola as well, it doesn't take long and it is so much better than the bought stuff and it doesn't taste stale any more.

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    1. I agree, Pip, it tastes so much better than the bought stuff. Many store-bought cereals are loaded with sugar and, while this is made with honey, I am happy that I could reduce that somewhat without affecting result too much. Meg:)

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  3. Meg this looks pretty much like the granola I make, saves heaps of $$$ and tastes so delicious. I can't believe how much those boxes of toasted muesli are to buy!

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    1. Hi, Sally. All I had to buy was the rolled oats and that was because I had none in the pantry or stockpile (very unusual). Everything else I had on hand. I think the macadamia oil is pricier but it's such a healthy oil and I buy it when it's on special. Can I ask what sweetener/how much you use for your granola, Sally? Meg:)

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    2. Meg, to four cups oatmeal and one cup of coconut flakes (plus nuts, seeds etc) I melt roughly three dessertspoons coconut oil with two or three dessertspoons of our honey (or to taste)to pour over and mix well before toasting in the oven. My goodness, it can burn quickly too. Had to throw a whole batch to the pigs recently!!

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    3. Oops, forgot to mention that I add my home grown, home dried fruit, chopped, after it cools. Can be eaten by the handful for a snack, or with milk or juice as b'fast.

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    4. I will definitely try the coconut oil, Sally, as I use that here often and always have a bottle of it in the pantry. Bet those pigs were happy with their delicious breakfast! Meg:)

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  4. Yum!
    I make toasted muesli from time to time, it never lasts very long, everyone loves it!
    It still surprises me, (but it shouldn't), how swiftly the homemade stuff goes, I can buy a box of toasted muesli, and it sits in the cupboard half eaten for months, make my own and it's gone in a week!

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    1. I expect your toasted muesli disappears quickly because it tastes so good! I'm going to keep making this, Cheryl, because it's so quick and easy and everything I need to make it is usually in my pantry. I'm finding it keeps well in airtight jars too. The other day some friends gave us a big bag of some mixed fruit chips they bought at Costco (pineapple, jackfruit, banana and mango) and I'll be putting a small amount of those in my next batch. Meg:)

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  5. I love home made granola. I've adapted a recipe on mindfood.com - Chunky sticky date pudding granola which is on their website. It uses dates and a bit of maple syrup to sweeten. I just used dried dates rather than fresh and it's delicious. The other thing I add is cooked, mashed pumpkin (not a lot) as Linda from witcheskitchen blog featured a pumpkin granola recipe. It really adds something. By the way Chia is easy to grow in the subtropics. I just planted some organic seeds I had.

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    1. Sticky date pudding and pumpkin granolas sounds amazing:) I will have a search for those recipes because I always have leftover mashed pumpkin to use up and who could go past sticky date pudding?! I've never tried to grow Chia but would love to give it a try because I use it quite a bit in baking and now in granola too. I will ask at the organic nursery if they have some seeds. Meg:)

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  6. That looks good, Meg. I could replace the honey with Rice Malt Syrup I guess. I have never made granola before.

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    1. I use Rice Malt Syrup sometimes too, Nanna Chel. I think you could substitute it for the honey. Meg:)

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  7. Replies
    1. It's delicious. You can add in whatever nuts, seeds or dried fruits you like to make it suit your family. Meg:)

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