I’ve blogged about this several times before, but I love making my own granola.  It’s so so much cheaper than store-bought, and is much lower in sugar and added fat.  The amount of oil and butter in those packages can be astounding, for something that is supposed to be healthy.

My basic recipe for granola is here.

You’ll notice that it isn’t so much a recipe, but more of a method.  There are 4parts to the method.

Step 1:  The Glaze*

Mix together brown sugar, peanut butter, maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener), vanilla extract and a splash of non-dairy milk.  Microwave it for about 30 seconds, so the sugar dissolves. Then mix in spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, whatever you like.  A dash of salt really brings out the flavors.  You should have a pourable mixture that is neither runny nor clumpy.  The consistency of honey is what you’re going for.  (Sorry, can’t think of a vegan comparison here!)

Step 2: The Oats

Add rolled oats to the glaze mixture.  Just grab a 1/4 cup measure and stir after each addition.  You want the oats to be nicely coated with the glaze mixture, but not soaked.  If you’d like to toast any nuts or coconut you are adding to the granola, add that in now.  I also like to add some ground flax seeds at this point.

Step 3:  Baking

Preheat your oven to 350 and bake for about 20 minutes or so.  Stir every 5 minutes and keep a close eye on it, as it tends to go from golden brown to black in a relatively short period of time.

Once it is golden, take it out of the oven and let it cool.  At this point, I refrain from stirring it because I like the granola to be chunky, but if you like more individual pieces of oats in your granola, by all means stir away.

Step 4:  Mix-Ins

After the granola is cooled, add any dried fruits (raisins, cranberries, dates) or nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts) to the mix.

Done!

Eat it as cereal, sprinkle over vegan ice cream or yogurt, or eat it by the handful.  Throw in some pretzel sticks and chocolate chips and you have homemade trail mix for hikes.  It’s a very versatile recipe

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A note about the glaze: You’ll notice that I use nut butter in my granola recipes.  This is so that I can cut down on added fat in the granola.  Yes, nut butters are still high in fats, but I prefer them to oil or butter because they also add flavor to the granola.  If I’m going to be adding something high in fat, I want to be able to taste it and enjoy it at least.  I don’t get any flavor from oil or butter in granola.

After spending a couple of weeks in Florida with my mom and sister, I still wasn’t ready to head back to Syracuse and responsibility.  So I didn’t.  Instead of taking my connecting flight from JFK – SYR, I schlepped my big hot pink suitcase to Jersey City to spend a few days with my uncle.  We had a great time: spent 3 hours walking around Lincoln State Park, went to Atlantic City for an afternoon, saw Avatar in 3D, watched old home movies, and ate falafel.  General uncle + niece things that I love.

Next, I headed to Brooklyn and while I had a slight mass transit nightmare on the way I made it to my friend Dan’s apartment in one piece.  I had a great time with Dan!  We got to meet up with my childhood best friend, made up rules to play shuffleboard, had awesome burgers (hold the beef on mine, thanks), and be lazy for a few days.

It was really sweet of  my uncle and Dan to host me so I could escape reality for a few more days, so I decided to thank them.  With food, naturally.  Dan requested key lime white chocolate cookies, because he’s fancy like that.  I hesitated initially because I dislike white chocolate a LOT, but found a recipe and gave it a whirl.  They came out pretty great.  The picture, however, did not.  The recipe is here.

Next, I figured cookies weren’t enough, so I made granola, of course.  Coconut Almond Granola to be exact.  I even used measuring devices and wrote down the exact recipe this time!

I packed it up in small plastic containers that I reused from the supermarket for easy shipping.

Coconut Almond Granola

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup raw almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1 T soymilk
• pinch of salt
• dash of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking tray with parchment.  In a bowl, combine the brown sugar with the soymilk.  Stir to combine, and microwave for 30 seconds, until the sugar is melted.  Add the salt and cinnamon, then the oats, coconut, and almonds.  Mix well, and pour onto the baking tray into an even layer.  Bake for 10 minutes to begin with, stir.  Bake in additional 5 minute intervals, stirring after each interval, until it is lightly golden, smells nutty, and sounds crispy (trust me on this one).  Cool to room temperature and pack in airtight containers.

Notes:

• This batch took 10 + 5+ 5 + 2 minutes to be the way I like it.  Use this as a guideline.  Never walk away from baking granola!
• Almonds are really easy to chop for baking, so instead of buying them ground or flaked, I just buy them whole so they are good for snacking and baking.
• If you still need to be convinced that making your own granola is worth it, I ran numbers:  the total cost of making this recipe is right around $2.46, which works out to about $.31 per serving.  The same amount in the grocery store can be as high as $6.99 or $.87 per serving.  No brainer.