Happy Health Nut's Granola
This granola is the perfect breakfast, bedtime snack, or cereal substitute. It's packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats, and it can be customized to your liking.
This granola is the perfect breakfast, bedtime snack, or cereal substitute. It's packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats, and it can be customized to your liking.
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 4 cups oats
- 1 cup wheat germ
- 1/2 cup flaxseed meal (a.k.a. milled flaxseed)
- 1/4 cup flaxseeds
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts or both!
- 1/2 cup almonds sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
- 1/3 cup flaxseed oil (or canola)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 cup dried fruit (i use dates, cranberries, and sometimes apricots)
- Carbohydrate 240.2883895 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 35.6905401666667 g
- Fiber 36.9767856637955 g
- Protein 33.340093 g
- Saturated Fat 4.29825206666666 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (416g)
- Sodium 55.3415 mg
- Sugar 203.311603836205 g
- Trans Fat 2.56181953333334 g
- Calories 1322 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, wheat germ, flaxseed meal, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, brown sugar, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans/walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cinnamon, and salt.
- Mix thoroughly.
- In a small bowl, whisk together oil, honey, vanilla, and water.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients evenly.
- Spread mixture evenly into a greased pan, almost any size will work.
- Bake for 1 hour, stirring every twenty minutes.
- While the granola is baking, prepare the dried fruit.
- If it is really dried out, soak it in recently boiled water for a few minutes to make it plump and juicy.
- Once the hour is done, take the granola out of the oven, let it cool for five minutes in the pan.
- Pour granola into a large container, then stir in the dried fruit.
- Leave it to cool with the lid off for an hour or so, or enjoy it immediately!
- This granola does not need to be kept in the fridge.
- It always is still good for a week, but it has never lasted longer than that so I'm not sure how long it will last past that point!
Limited oven space demands efficient baking strategies when preparing large batches of toasted grains and seeds. Spreading the mixture across standard rimmed baking sheets allows proper airflow, preventing the center from steaming instead of crisping at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Tailoring this formula to specific dietary needs requires understanding ingredient functions.
- Replace honey with pure maple syrup or agave nectar in equal volume if avoiding bee products.
- Substitute neutral grapeseed oil for flaxseed oil to alter the smoke point and flavor profile.
- Incorporate dried cherries or chopped figs by rehydrating them in hot water for five minutes before tossing them into the finished batch.
- Stir the mixture every twenty minutes during the hour-long bake to ensure uniform golden color development across all seed surfaces.
Cooling the baked oats completely in an unsealed container prevents condensation from softening the texture. Store the dry mixture in an airtight glass jar at room temperature for up to seven days.
