Looking back to my teenage years, I was always a bit of a health food nut…Not that this was a bad thing, I’m really glad that I chose to eat that way. At the time, I was surrounded by an overindulgent crowd, especially when I was away at school at UMBC. As an adult, I was a vegetarian for many years—well more of a lacto-ovo pescatarian, where most of my diet centered around eggs, some grains and fish. During this time, I discovered that I felt a lot better but still had some issues with a few foods that I still experimented with.
One of the things I loved to eat was something that was relatively new at the time called trail mix. It is a familiar product to use all now, but when I was a kid in college, it was a healthier way to snack instead of all of the other usual suspects that most college kids tend to fall into face-first. My other go to snack was granola, and again, it was something relatively new at the time that many stores began to sell. Little did I know that most of the granola at the time was full of oil and sugar, and since food labeling in those days was not specific in terms of ingredients or calories per portion, manufacturers would label something as healthy, but it was far from it.
It was not until many years later that my love for dried fruit, nuts and grains led me to develop my own homemade granola recipe that I have modified over the years.
This recipe is delicately sweet, but not overly so like most granola that you find at the store. One of the tricks I use its to add egg whites as a binder instead of all of that extra sugar and oil. When making it at home, you control not only the amount of sugar, but also the quality of sugar. I choose to use a little brown sugar and honey but you can also use maple syrup or a lower glycemic sugar, like coconut nectar. I also can control the amount of oil that is added to the final product, omitting all of those unnecessary, extra calories.
This particular recipe is great as a granola snack, a granola cereal and even a granola topping for yogurt, pies, poached fruit, ice cream or whatever you are eating that needs something crunchy and slightly sweet.
I like to add my dried fruit together with everything in the oven, because I love the fruit and nut clusters that bake together once you add all of the liquid ingredients. Many people bake the granola separately and then add the dried fruit, and you can do that too if you prefer. But, because I add my dried fruit in with everything else, I have to re-hydrate the fruit slightly so that it does not burn in the baking process. Before I start to mix everything together, I add the dried fruit to a bowl of really hot water and let it sit there for about 15-30 minutes, then I strain it and add it to the rest of the items in the bowl. Once everything is mixed together, bake it slowly so that it just dries out and does not burn. I already know that you are going to love this as much as I do, and you will be making it over and over again!
Homemade Granola Topping & Cereal
2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup rolled barley flakes
1 c rolled quinoa flakes
2 tablespoons dried dessicated coconut
2 tablespoons flax meal
2 tablespoons wheat bran
2 cups dried fruit, re-hydrated in 3 cups hot water (I used goji berries, dried cherries, cranberries and raisins)
2 cups nuts of your choice (I used almonds, pistachios and almonds)
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ cup coconut whey (this is left over after making coconut cream)**optional
4 tablespoons egg whites (if not using coconut whey, add an additional ¼ cup of egg whites)
2 tablespoons vanilla
½ cup honey
First, you need to decide if you are going to add all of the fruit together with the granola to bake in the oven or if you are going to add it after the granola has baked. Most people add the fruit after the granola has baked but I have made it both ways. I actually like when the fruits sticks to clusters of granola forming little nuggets, so when I do this I have to make sure to rehydrate the dried fruit first in a small bowl with really hot water. I let them sit on the counter until they have cooled off, then I put the container in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
Measure out all of the dry ingredients and place everything into a large bowl. Then measure all of the wet ingredients and set them aside. Once the fruit has re-hydrated, strain out the excess water and squeeze them gently so as not to add extra liquid to the granola. Add the re-hydrated fruit and the other ingredients, and mix everything together.
This mixture will fill 2 half sheet pans. Line each pan with some parchment paper and pour half of the granola onto each pan. Preheat your oven to 350°F, and once you put the trays into the oven reduce the heat to 300°F. Bake the granola at this temperature for 30 minutes. After baking for 15 minutes, use a fork to move it around to make sure that it bakes evenly. After it has baked for 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 250°F and use the fork to move it around again.
It will begin to take on a little color, and this is when you need to be careful Bake it for an additional 15 minutes at 250°F, then turn off the oven and allow it to sit in the oven for an additional 15 minutes, then remove and allow it to cool completely.
When it is in the oven it will seem ‘wet’, but once it has been removed from the heat, it will crisp up. If it needs a little more time in the oven, just keep it in there for a few extra minutes with the oven turned off.
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