OUR FAVORITE GRANOLA RECIPE

I wish you could smell this picture!

This is what beautiful mornings are made of! This is from the family cookbook I am compiling and is a combination of many trial and errors, inspiration and different granolas we’ve tried throughout the years. I make one half of the batch with nuts, one half without — it’s delicious both ways.

In Sweden, the sister-cereal to granola is called: muesli. It has all of the similar ingredients, but is basically without honey and doesn’t clump — all of the ingredients are not bound together. It’s recently started appearing in a Swedish few bakeries and delis who will feature an exclusive granolas; and you can find a little at most groceries but it isn’t traditional. Isn’t that interesting? In general, muesli is the choice of Swedes.

Note: I leave the dried fruit out and prefer to have everyone add the extras that they’d like at serving time — I think this is the easiest: make a base then, everyone can make it their own. It seems that the taste buds in our family change bi-weekly! Things we love to add: dried blueberries are the favorite dried fruit in our house at the moment, but any favorite dried fruit works, linseeds, extra sunflower seeds, more cinnamon, even a small amount of yogurt covered dried fruit for a splurge and of course, my favorite: berries. Cozy, honey and cinnamon wishes to you this weekend.

GranolaPrepare Oven: 150 C/325 F2 roasting pans needed for baking
10 C. Oats (I use combinations of oats: spelt (Dinkle på svenska) and oats or other combinations I have on hand or am in the mood for. I like the big flakes.
2 C Wheat Germ
2 C Coconut
1/2 C Dried Powdered Milk
1.5-2. C nuts. I use almonds both whole and silvers in combination (may be excluded but we love them)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 C water
4T vanilla (I make our vanilla extract and love to add some seeds to this recipe)
1/2 C Honey + 4 T honey
1 C oil (I like safflower)
Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, except nuts and seed. Mix to combine.

 

In a food processor, combine the sunflower seeds, water and oil, leaving this slightly chunky. Add the honey and combine well, then add the vanilla. Now, combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and stir until the oats are evenly coated. In one roasting pan, spoon this granola mixture.Watch and stir the granola every 15 minutes for about 1 hour. Each oven is a little different. You want this brown, but not too brown. It will not appear completely dry when it is finished baking — just keep an eye on the correct color, once this is the correct color, then, remove from oven and let cool, stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t stick together.

 

Nut Variations:
1) Add the nuts to the original dry ingredients, treat as the other dry ingredients and proceed with the recipe as written. 2) OR, if you’d like a caramelized, chunkier, nut version: Once the granola is finished or in the last stages of the granola making, begin this process:

In a separate bowl, place the nuts and drizzle the 4T honey. (This can be prepared ahead of time to place in the over now) Stir well and place in roasting pan. Watch so that the nuts don’t brown too quickly and stir occasionally. Their baking time will be between 20-30 minutes, depending on the nuts that you use and their freshness. This will appear slightly liquidity yet, but brown; once lightly browned, remove from oven and stir into the granola. Let sit and stir after a few minutes again. Adding this honeyed-nut element at the last minute, makes clumpy, chunky, delicious, granola nuggets!

(Nut Allergy: try this honey process by substituting sunflower seeds. The baking time will be shorter.)
Store in Airtight container! Enjoy.

SOMETHING YOU MIGHT LIKE:

SWEDISH BREAKFAST
HOT CHOCOLATE
BUNNY TOAST
WAFFLES WITH BLUEBERRIES