Homemade Granola

My husband and I both liked this. It's something different for breakfast and it's cheaper and healthier than what's in the stores. It's good with a little milk. We used organic dry milk and it was good. I prefer to use dry milk so that we don't waste milk since organic milk tends to be expensive. I like being able to just mix up whatever I need at the time. If you don't want to use cow's milk you can always do goat milk (takes time to acquire a taste for it) or sub with almond, rice, or coconut milk. This can be made gluten-free by simply buying certified GF Oatmeal. Note: You can add other seeds if you would like. For example, sunflower or pumpkin would be good. For even more additional protein, you can add a tablespoon of rice protein powder, which I have done and we liked it a lot. Granola can be pretty much whatever you want. These ingredients were what I wanted in mine. We are trying to cut out sugar or just use simple ones like I have in this recipe. If you don't really care to have sweetened granola or you want a sugar-free version, then just a little stevia would be fine. However, if you can have a little sugar, a little honey or syrup will give it a nice flavor.  


Homemade Granola

6 cups uncooked oatmeal (I used old fashion)
1 cup chopped walnuts or nut of your choice
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup to 1 cup ground chia seeds
2/3 cup melted coconut oil + 3 Tbsp
3 to 4 Tbsp honey (can use rice syrup or maple)
2 Tbsp coconut sugar (or maple or brown...your choice)
1/2 to 1 tsp liquid stevia extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 to 4 tsp cinnamon (we like a lot)
1 Tbsp rice protein powder, optional

Preheat oven to 275. In a large bowl mix the oats, nuts, chia, and coconut and protein powder. Set aside. In a small pot melt the coconut oil, honey, sugar and bring to a boil. **Note that if you use coconut sugar, it will not become liquid. It will be a very thick syrup like texture just sitting in the oil. Once it has melted the sugar and honey, remove from the heat and add the vanilla and the stevia. Pour the hot mixture over the dry and mix until well coated. Spread onto two parchment lined cookie sheets or two large greased casserole type dishes. I prefer to use casserole dishes since I can easily stir the mixture without losing any of it or making a mess.

Bake for 60 minutes or until brown and pretty well dried out. Every 15 minutes remove from the oven and stir. When you place the casserole dishes back in the oven it is good to switch the side they were on and turn them. When the granola is done, and cooled some, add the raisins if using them. Once completely cooled store in an airtight container. If there is more than you will use you can freeze the extras. I usually cook up two batches and freeze the extra for later.

 PrintPDF