Another post in my series, “How to ________ without _________“

Lately, I’ve been working on perfecting my mom’s granola recipe.  Yes, it’s good in the form that we ate it growing up but I most particularly  wanted it to be in clusters, not just individual pieces.  We don’t buy cold cereal from the store any more; because this is the only cold cereal we eat, I want it to be perfect!

Meggan tipped me off to the “adding flour” trick and I also decide to amp up the flavor with more spices, vanilla, and salt.  It’s not perfect yet but it’s pretty darn good so I thought I’d share the recipe with you.

Here’s my current working recipe for:

Laura’s Mom’s Now Even More Delicious Granola

5 C rolled oats
1 C oat bran
1 C coconut
1 C raw sunflower seeds
2 C chopped nuts (I use pecans and walnuts)
3/4 C oat flour (grind up oatmeal in a food processor if you don’t have any)

Mix in a large bowl and set aside.

3/4 C water
3/4 C oil* (we prefer coconut oil)
1/2 C honey*
1/4 C molasses* (or maple syrup)
1 T ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamon
1 T vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt

Put into a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for a minute or two until everything is well combined and the spices smell flavorful.  Pour over the dry ingredients and mix until well-combined.  Spread onto two baking sheets.  Bake in a 300 degree oven, stirring every 10 minutes**.  At the end of 30 minutes, stir one last time and close the oven door.  Wait 5 more minutes and then turn the oven off.  Leave the granola in the oven for an additional 15 minutes.  It won’t seem crunchy enough when it comes out of the oven but will get crunchier as it cools.

2 C raisins or other chopped dried fruit

Stir into the granola after it cools.  I prefer to sprinkle the fruit over the top of the granola before I put it into my storage container.  This distributes it fairly evenly through the granola.

Enjoy!  It’s delicious with milk or yogurt (plain whole milk yogurt is the best!).

Some items of note:

*Use this trick of measuring that my mom taught me.  Measure your oil in the 1/4 and 1/2 C measuring cups.  Then your honey and molasses will fall right out!

**You really have to stir carefully if you want to preserve the clusters.  So basically, you just want to get the outer edges to the middle and redistribute.  Stir gently and try to preserve whatever clusters are there.  I’m still working on the clustering technique so I’ll update you as I improve it.