The Art of Homemade Granola

In the current climate of my life, early morning awakenings seem to be a common trend - alongside a diminishing timescale in which to get ready and leave the house by (all in the hope of getting to work on time). It's times like these that porridge just doesn't quite suffice; though it ticks all other criteria, there's no getting around the fact that it is somewhat time consuming to prepare in the morning (besides the issue that once it is cooked, you need to wait yet again for the damn stuff to cool! So not cool, porridge. Sort it out mate).

Fretting over, I found me a delicious way to satisfy my morning cravings for oats in a way that doesn't involve incessantly boiling them on the stove with innate precision). Well hello, good-ol' homemade nutty granola. Where have you been all my life?

There must surely be very few people who dislike granola. Though whilst supermarkets often have a huge variety of every kind of granola you could imagine, chances are that these oh-so appealing boxes of oat-y deliciousness are also full of unnecessary added sugars, and are likely to be made with not-so-good-for-you oils as 'stickeners' (Check the ingredients on the back of the box if you don't believe me!).

This - along with other factors, namely being the price tag - is why homemade granola is a hellalot better than your average pack of Jordan's (who apparently have 41% of the £13 million granola market. See what I mean about price now?!).

Making your homemade granola mix is simples, and you can easily adapt the following recipe to suit whatever nuts/seeds you prefer (or rather, whatever you have stocked up). It also fills the house with a gorgeous whiff reminiscent of breakfast time - the sweet warm scent of oats, nuts and honey is practically unbeatable (perhaps only just capped by the amazing smell that is banana bread in the oven. Oh, heaven's above!).



Ingredients (dry):

150g porridge oats
40g almonds
25g walnuts
25g cashews
2 tablespoons pistachios (can sub for seeds, i.e. sesame seeds or flax)
1 tablespoon ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (ground)

Ingredients (wet & optional additions):

3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon manuka honey
a few drops almond extract (optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
2 tablespoons dried fruit of choice (I chopped up 6 dried apricots)

Pre-heat the oven to 300C/gas mark 2 and line a baking tray in (suitably organised) preparation. Place your oats into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, place all of your nuts and crush slightly, until they're a suitable slap-dash mix of whole and somewhat crushed/chopped/battered nuts. Combine all dry ingredients and stir.

Meanwhile, melt your coconut oil over low heat before adding the honey. Once the coconut oil has liquified, remove from heat and add your optional almond extract and vanilla bean paste. Pour the mix into the dry ingredients, and stir well to incorporate every ingredient, until the oats/nuts are fully coated and a little sticky.

Spread your mix onto the baking tray and place in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Remove from heat, and leave to cool before adding your dried fruit (an option for those looking for sweetness to enhance and balance the nutty-oat-y flavour of the granola. Place in an air-tight container to keep your homemade batch fresh for around a few weeks (if you did it right, though, your granola shouldn't last even half that long. Trust in the power of homemade granola!).




And there we have it. This recipe was based on a post over at Iowa Girl Eats - my granola totally doesn't look a patch on hers, though admittedly I did reduce the amount of additional natural sweeteners that Kristin originally used.