Granola isn’t something I eat much, but my husband absolutely loves it. Sometimes he eats it with milk like a bowl of cereal and other times he sprinkles it over his yoghurt. However he enjoys it, I always feel a little better about leaving a jar of this homemade granola in the cupboard for him to have for breakfast or a snack because it’s made with only the good stuff.
This recipe is just a guide. You can substitute different nuts, seeds or dried fruits if you like and customise it to your own tastes, but you won’t go wrong with this combination and the house smells so good every time I make it! As I’m typing this I’ve just finished a grocery order and have decided to add dried cranberries to my next batch. Feel free to get creative!
I also love to make homemade granola as a gift. I find cute jars when I’m out and about, sometimes at T.K. Maxx and other times online or at charity shops and when I have a big batch of granola, I’ll pop some of it into these jars, label them, tie a cute ribbon bow on them and I have a beautiful, thoughtful homemade gift to give to friends, neighbours or family. Who doesn’t love being gifted a nice, homemade breakfast?
Once you’ve made homemade granola and put it into a jar or sealed container of your choice it will keep for 1 month. It only takes a few minutes to put together and it’s nicer than anything you can buy in a box. Let’s get started!
Ingredients
- 350g rolled oats
- 200g pumpkin seeds
- 150g chopped pecans
- 100g flaked almonds
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 100ml maple syrup
- 50ml runny honey
- 100g dried cherries
- 250g dried apricots, chopped
- Zest of 1 orange
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 160°C / 140° Fan / 325°F and line two large baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.
- Add the oats, pumpkin seeds, pecans, almond flakes, sea salt flakes and cinnamon to a bowl. Stir these dried ingredients to combine.
- Add the oil, syrup and honey and stir until all the dried ingredients are coated. Divide this mixture between the two lined baking trays and spread it out evenly across the trays.
- Pop the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 40 minutes, giving the trays a stir to toss the mixture every 10 minutes. If you’re baking both trays at the same time, when you do this, swap their location in the oven each time, meaning put the bottom tray on the top rack and the bottom on the bottom rack. Be sure to pause your timer when you’re doing this and bake the trays this way until the granola is nice and golden, but don’t let it burn or get too dark.
- When the cooking time is up, remove the trays and sprinkle with even amounts of the orange zest. Add half of the dried cherries and apricots to each tray as well and stir to combine everything. You’ll start to smell the lovely aromas of orange zest from the heat on the tray. Once you’ve given both trays a good stir, leave them to cool completely on the trays for an hour or two until cold. The granola will crisp up as it cools.
- When the trays of granola are completely cool, transfer it to an airtight container or jar and use within 1 month.
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