The story of Mom’s homemade granola is quite sad actually.
We need to have a moment of silence. Bow your head with us for a minute as we mourn the loss of store-bought cereal in our house. Last week at breakfast, Mom was watching us all pour bowl after bowl of cereal as the entire box was drained of its contents within 20 minutes. An hour later we were all complaining of hunger.
We should have seen the warning signs. We got even more nervous when she picked up the box and started reading the ingredients. Her face was not encouraging. When she got to the, “added sugars” and gasped, we knew it was over.
This is when we knew we had our next experiment on our hands. Time to figure out a new quick and easy morning breakfast with lower sugar, and more protein to keep us out of the kitchen for more than an hour. This meant some experimenting for a homemade granola.
Mom’s Homemade Granola History
Mom has made a few versions of granola over the years. She starts with a basic recipe and then by the time she is done, it is completely different. She even tried to put carrots into a batch. We can all agree she went too far with that one. One of our favorites, however, had a version of Rice Krispies in the recipe, and we thought we would start with that one. Until Mom looked at the ingredients. (We need to find a way of keeping her away from those.) First three ingredients: rice, sugar, corn syrup. Well, that was the end of that.
Our next option was to try a recipe with Grape-Nuts, as we love those with our homemade yogurt and there are zero added sugars in them.
Of course, granola needs some sweetness, so this recipe has a healthy amount of honey added, which also helps to keep it together. But boy howdy, honey is hard to measure and so annoying to work with in a recipe! Our trick is to melt the coconut oil in the microwave until you reach the 3/4 cup mark, and then pour the honey into the same measuring cup until you reach 1 1/2 cups. The warm oil helps with making the honey slide right out and it is a much easier process.
In our first attempt at this granola, we used 2 teaspoons of salt. While my sister says there can never be too much, I felt that we should bring it down to 1. Although the nuts are healthy, this granola was very heavy! So we also brought down the amount of nuts to balance it out better with the oats. We also pounded them much finer this time.
After mixing all of the ingredients, we poured them onto 2 baking mats and spread them out evenly.
Next up, 18 minutes in the oven at 285 degrees. Last time we did 300 and some of the nuts were burned. We then brought them out and stirred them carefully before putting them back in for another 18 minutes.
Some ovens may need a bit longer, but we were nervous about burning, so we took it out. The next step is difficult. You need to let it cool completely. Without picking at it. This made the house smell wonderful, and everyone came out of their corners to start breaking pieces off for a snack. That is a good sign, right?
Make sure to give it plenty of time on the counter to let all the moisture evaporate or it will get mushy in your container and will not last as long. Because we used so much honey, this almost turned into granola bars, which we loved, but perhaps you might want to consider lowering it if you would rather have a more crumbly cereal.
If this homemade granola is not sweet enough for you, you may want to consider topping it off with some mini chocolate chips or sweetened coconut flakes. Either way, you (or your Mom most likely) will be in charge of your sugar intake instead of cereal companies. Maybe you would like some homemade yogurt to go with it!
"Mom" Granola
Cereal with More Natural Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans
- 1/2 Cup Chopped or Smashed Almonds
- 3 Cups Oats
- 1 ½ Cups Grapenuts Cereal
- ¾ Cup Coconut Oil
- ¾ Cup Honey
- 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 285 F.
- Chop the pecans and almonds to small pieces.
- Measure out the coconut oil and place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for until melted (30 seconds.) Then add the
honey. - Add oats, Grapenuts, cinnamon, salt and nuts to a large mixing bowl.
- Add the honey and coconut oil mixture to bowl and toss to combine.
- Spread out evenly and cook for 36-40 minutes. Stir at the half way point.
- Allow to cool completely and break up into small pieces. Try not to eat it before you store in an air tight container.
Notes
Adapted from More Mamma