how to make granola at home

I have been working on getting just the right combination of ingredients and technique to make a really yummy granola. Here's my latest concoction, which turned out very nicely.

Begin with a bigger bowl than you think, because you know how things are. I used several cups of large flake oats. You could add wheat or other rolled grains as well.

 I cut the almonds from whole, unblanched, for a rustic feel. All of the nuts and seeds here are raw, because they will roast during the baking. Did I mention to heat the oven to 350F?

 Here's where you dump in the nuts and seeds. Pictured: the almonds, pecans, flax seed, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. If you find you have only toasted seeds, leave them out for now and add them after the baking, along with the fruit. Stir this whole lot together.

 For about 10 cups of mixed grains, seeds and nuts, I used 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup canola oil. We had the creamed type of honey on hand, so I softened it for about 30 seconds in the microwave, then whisked in the oil. You want the mixture to be liquidy enough to distribute evenly through the dry ingredients.

Mix the honey/oil into the dry ingredients. You can stir it with a big spoon on combine with your hands to make sure every bit of grain, seed and nut gets honey-oiled. Spread it out on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment and put it in the oven.

 You want it to get toasty but not toasted, so every 10 minutes take it out and stir/flip it with a spatula. You might want to do this more frequently near the end. Move the more-roasted bits from the edges and corners of the pan into the centre. Move the less-roasted bits out to the edges.

 In about 30 minutes you know. It will be golden but not brown, and it will smell heavenly! Take it out of the oven, and add a generous handful or two of fruit. Shown here: raisins and dried cranberries.

Here's how I store it, in a plastic container with a snap lid. It will keep for a few weeks on the shelf this way. In our house it gets eaten pretty quickly. It's great for snacking, or eating with yogurt. It's even good sprinkled on top of a salad.

question: are you a granola-head?

mompoet - unblanched spell-checks to "blanched!"