A crunchy, healthy granola, simple to make and easy to pull out for a quick filling breakfast or simple snack.
Cereal?
We had a neighbor years ago, that worked for a cereal factory. He had to wear a HAZMAT suit in order to mix the ingredients together to make the cereal. I thought that was kind of crazy.
HAZMAT suit or not, we don’t eat a lot of cereal in our house. In order to be made into cereal, grains are processed in a way that diminishes their natural vitamins and nutrients.
In addition, cereals have a lot of hidden sugars and unless you are buying organic, most of the grains are GMO as well.
Also, if your kids have fast metabolisms like mine, after they eat a bowl or three of cereal, they are hungry in an hour. That’s just not my favorite way to start out the day.
Basic As You Want It
However, the ease of cereal is a lure. That’s where this granola comes into play. It sits on my counter and is ready to pull out at any moment. It is just as quick and easy and dare I say more delicious than that box of cereal.
This recipe can be upgraded and fancified all you want. You can add more nuts or seeds. Dried fruit such as raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries are an awesome addition. Toss in some mini chocolate chips. Peanut butter is a great addition to the sauce mixture for a peanut butter version.
The base version is delicious all on its own but it is easy enough to throw in some add-ins if you like a little more to your granola.
Very Versatile
You can eat this in a bowl with milk, toss it on the top of yogurt, or get fancy and throw in some berries and yogurt and make a parfait with it.
Eat it on icecream or add it to this yummy smoothie bowl. In addition, you can make these awesome Chewy Granola Cookies.
However you serve it, it will be yummy.
Basic Almond Granola
6 cups quick or rolled oats ( or a combo of the two)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 cup almond flour
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1/3 – 1/2 cup water (more water makes larger clusters) or sourdough starter
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, salt, coconut sugar, almond flour, slivered almonds and cinnamon. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, heat the oil, honey and water.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir well. Pour the granola mixture onto a large cookie sheet. Spread it evenly in the pan. Place the pan in the preheated oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes. Turn off oven. Don’t open the door. When it is cooled, open the door and remove the granola. (Each oven will be a little different. You might need to check yours the first time you make it and see how it is doing after a bit.)
I often mix this up in the evening and let it bake and then turn off the oven and let the granola sit in my oven overnight. In the morning, it is nice and cool and ready to be stored away.
IF YOU USE SOURDOUGH STARTER: Adding sourdough starter to this granola recipe not only helps the digestibility of the oats, it also increases the nutrition. Sourdough has beneficial bacteria that are good for the health of everyone’s gut.
Once you have heated the oil and honey together, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sourdough starter. Pour the liquid over the oat mixture, stir well, cover tightly, and leave on the counter for 6-8 hours or overnight. After the soak time, spread on the pan and bake per the instructions above.
TWEAK IT Notes
- GLUTEN FREE – If you need to be gluten free, be sure to use gluten free oats.
- COCONUT OIL – If you have coconut allergies, a light olive oil can be used in place of the coconut oil. Alternatively, you can skip the oil all together and use applesauce. Heat the honey and water and then remove it from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup applesauce and then pour it over the oat mixture. The applesauce doesn’t coat as well as the oil so you may need to add a little extra.
- NUT ALLERGY – If you cannot have nuts you can replace the almond flour with a sunflower seed flour or oat flour. You can replace the slivered almonds with an equal amount of any kind of seed – pumpkin, sunflower, chia, flax, sesame seeds are all good options.
- HONEY – If you need a vegan option, use maple syrup.
