Endlessly Useful Granola

Maple-walnut-apricot

If there is one thing you should not be paying other people to make for you, it is granola. (Exception, of course, if I persuade my mother, whose formula this is, to start selling the stuff: that you should definitely buy!) Buy your ingredients in bulk and bake it yourself; an hour's worth of work can stock you up for a month. This recipe isn't so much a recipe as an algorithm. It's endlessly adaptable to whatever you have in your cabinets, whatever your taste is, and whatever's on sale at the moment.

Coconut-cashew-cranberry-chocolate

INGREDIENTS

6 Cups Granola Stuff:  Oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts,
almonds, sesame seeds, etc. 2 -3 cups of this should be oats or a flaky thing - I've used rolled wheat and rolled quinoa on occasion. 

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil

1/2 cup honey (can substitute part molasses or maple syrup)

1/4 cup sugar 

1/2 tsp vanilla

spices to taste. I like ginger and cinnamon.

1/2 cup dried fruit and/or chocolate chips

Toast the granola stuff on an ungreased baking sheet for 20 minutes at 300ᵒ F, stirring occasionally. 

Meanwhile, heat the butter or oil, honey, and sugar in a saucepan. Stir well to combine. If you like, you can add 1/2 c peanut butter. Simmer but don't boil, at least not if you want to get your pot clean. Add vanilla if using. Combine the liquid and the lightly toasted mixture, stir until well mixed. Add spices if you're using them.

Pre-bake

Put the mixture back on the baking sheet. If you want it to stick together, pack it down. If you like a looser granola, break it up. Bake the combined mixture for 20 minutes at 300ᵒ F, stirring occasionally. Don't overbake - it will harden up as it cools. Remove from oven and let cool. As it cools, add chocolate chips and/or dried fruit.

I made two types of granola on this go-round. The first was oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, cashews, sesame seeds, coconut, and almond, held together with oil and honey, garnished with dried cranberries and chocolate chips. The second was oats, wheat bran, peanuts, walnuts, and ground flax seeds, held together with butter and maple syrup, garnished with apricots.

All the ingredients were bought in bulk, so the prices are approximations:

In the oven

Oats: $1.50

Wheat Bran $.10

Cashews $2

Walnuts $2

Peanuts $.50

Maple syrup $1

Butter $1.50

Flax seeds $.50

Honey $1

Sugar $.25

Cranberries $.75

Coconut: $.75

Apricots $1

Sunflower seeds: $.75

Almonds: $.75

Sesame seeds: $.25

Chocolate chips: $1.25

TOTAL: $15.85 (steep for a meal, but consider this will provide about a month's worth of breakfasts. Half a month if you also eat it for snacks. $1/day for some pretty energy-dense stuff.)