You'd think seeing how I blog about making things from scratch that you can't get outside the US, that granola would have been one of the earlier recipes I shared with you. I'll be honest, until recently any granola I made turned out terrible. It burned. Or I didn't like the flavor. Or I didn't like how crunchy it got or didn't get. Or it didn't hold together. I'm a crunchy, cluster-loving granola girl. Another thing I didn't like about a lot of granolas I tried or researched was the amount of oil in them. I haven't actually figured out how many calories or fat grams are in this granola, but it has to be a lot less than most. There is NO oil in it! I've found I really like this granola without all the extra calories from oil. And it can sort of be like a choose your own adventure novel....and that makes any food more fun! Start with this recipe as a base, and have some fun with it!
Granola
6 cups old-fashioned oats* (not instant)
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 - 3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Add-ins of choice: nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, other dried fruit bits, sesame seeds, coconut, sunflower seeds, etc.
Preheat oven to 325F (160C). Place oats in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together applesauce, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Pour over oats and mix together until everything is moistened. Spread evenly onto a large silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet (or 2 smaller ones). If you don't have a silpat or parchment or wax paper to line the pan, you can just lightly grease it. Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Take out pan. Using a large spatula, flip the granola in batches. Disturb it as little as you can if you like lots of clusters. If you don't care about clusters, just stir it around as much as you please and break it up a bit with your spoon or spatula. At this point, you can also sprinkle in things like coconut, seeds or nuts that would benefit from being toasted in the granola! Place back in oven and bake for about 10-20 more minutes. It will kind of depend on oven temp and how thin you're able to spread the granola on your pan(s). Remove from oven and allow to cool undisturbed. It should continue to crunch up as it cools. Once cool, break up any clusters you feel are too large. Mix in your chosen add-ins and store in an airtight container. We like ours with yogurt especially!
Notes:
*Here in my city a lot of the oatmeal that says its quick-cooking still looks a lot like instant--small flakes. I usually try to put half and half of oatmeal that has a really full flake and the more broken up kind of quick-cooking ones. In the picture, the fuller ones on left and more instant looking kind on right. Find what works for you! Having some of the smaller flakes helps it clump and cluster a bit better to me. When you use it, you can really stir it up as much as you want and it will still have some little clusters. (All pictures in this post are from a very well-stirred batch!)
A 1/2 cup of brown sugar keeps this on the lightly sweet side. Adding 3/4 of a cup makes it plenty sweet. I don't even have to add an extra sprinkle of sugar on top of plain yogurt if I have it this sweet. Find which you like better. Meeting in the middle at 2/3 cup might be about perfect!
Play around with what type of fruit puree you use! Try pears or peaches instead of applesauce! Change up your combination of add-ins! Have fun with it! Also, if you can get wheat germ or like using it, feel free to substitute a half cup or so in place of the oats. You can leave out the cinnamon and/or vanilla. They just help define the flavor a bit more.
Granola
6 cups old-fashioned oats* (not instant)
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 - 3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Add-ins of choice: nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, other dried fruit bits, sesame seeds, coconut, sunflower seeds, etc.
Preheat oven to 325F (160C). Place oats in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together applesauce, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Pour over oats and mix together until everything is moistened. Spread evenly onto a large silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet (or 2 smaller ones). If you don't have a silpat or parchment or wax paper to line the pan, you can just lightly grease it. Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Take out pan. Using a large spatula, flip the granola in batches. Disturb it as little as you can if you like lots of clusters. If you don't care about clusters, just stir it around as much as you please and break it up a bit with your spoon or spatula. At this point, you can also sprinkle in things like coconut, seeds or nuts that would benefit from being toasted in the granola! Place back in oven and bake for about 10-20 more minutes. It will kind of depend on oven temp and how thin you're able to spread the granola on your pan(s). Remove from oven and allow to cool undisturbed. It should continue to crunch up as it cools. Once cool, break up any clusters you feel are too large. Mix in your chosen add-ins and store in an airtight container. We like ours with yogurt especially!
Notes:
*Here in my city a lot of the oatmeal that says its quick-cooking still looks a lot like instant--small flakes. I usually try to put half and half of oatmeal that has a really full flake and the more broken up kind of quick-cooking ones. In the picture, the fuller ones on left and more instant looking kind on right. Find what works for you! Having some of the smaller flakes helps it clump and cluster a bit better to me. When you use it, you can really stir it up as much as you want and it will still have some little clusters. (All pictures in this post are from a very well-stirred batch!)
A 1/2 cup of brown sugar keeps this on the lightly sweet side. Adding 3/4 of a cup makes it plenty sweet. I don't even have to add an extra sprinkle of sugar on top of plain yogurt if I have it this sweet. Find which you like better. Meeting in the middle at 2/3 cup might be about perfect!
Play around with what type of fruit puree you use! Try pears or peaches instead of applesauce! Change up your combination of add-ins! Have fun with it! Also, if you can get wheat germ or like using it, feel free to substitute a half cup or so in place of the oats. You can leave out the cinnamon and/or vanilla. They just help define the flavor a bit more.
Thanks Sara Beth! I tried a batch with applesauce last week, but I got it too wet by including water and oil - it was worst batch I've ever made. So I will try this soon!
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