Not all treasured recipes were passed down from a Nonna, Nana or Gramma. While I have beloved recipes from my family, my granola recipe was found online, in a random woman’s blog. She shut it down a couple weeks after I started reading it so I’m glad I had copied the recipe — it’s delicious!
People often look at me with a mixture of disgust and envy when I mention that I make my own granola. But I don’t like most cereals and don’t have the wherewithal to actually cook much of anything first thing in the morning, yet I like to eat soon after getting up. A bowl of simple granola, customizable and filling, has made my life so much easier. I’m forever grateful to that fly-by-night blogger. May this recipe ease your life too!
Ingredients:
(All of these measurements are estimates.)
- 5 cups rolled oats
- ½ cup toasted wheat germ
- ½ cup whole-wheat flour
- ½ cup flaked coconut (I usually use unsweetened)
- ¾ cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup honey
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ½ cup vegetable oil (I’ve also used olive oil successfully, coconut oil less so …)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a large rimmed cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients well. In a smaller bowl, mix the honey, water, vanilla and vegetable oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing together (and allowing the “clumps” of granola to form). Spread granola on the cookie sheet, and bake for two hours. The world will not end if you mess up and leave it baking for more than two hours, but I wouldn’t go past three. Let cool, then, break into small clusters. Store in an air-tight container. To serve, add fruit (dried or fresh), some chocolate chips, or whatever else suits your fancy!
Reed is a writer and professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
