Weekend Food Prep: Homemade Granola

I like granola to sprinkle on yogurt or to eat as a cereal, but premade granolas are almost always too greasy and sweet for me. I’ve played with granola recipes for years, and I’ve finally come up with a preferred method. Below, you will find the master recipe, in which you can switch things up as much as you prefer. Then, I will give my go-to version, for those of you who don’t want to make so many decisions.

Marjorie’s Homemade Granola–Master Recipe

one.  Preheat the oven to 300 ^oF.

two.  Stir together in a baking dish or large glass casserole:

2 cups old-fashioned oats, quick oats, buckwheat groats, other flaked grains, or a mixture of any of these
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut (you can use sweetened, if you can’t find it unsweetened, but obviously, the final result will be sweeter)
1.5 cups coarsely chopped nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or a mixture of these
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp powdered ginger

three.  Heat briefly in a microwave and stir together:

2 tbs nut butter or coconut oil
2 tbs honey or maple syrup

four.  Add 1 mashed very ripe banana to the honey mixture

And maybe ½ tsp almond extract or 1 tsp vanilla extract 

five.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir until everything is evenly moistened.

six.  Bake until completely dried, stirring every half hour or so.  If it starts to toast too quickly, lower the temperature to 250^oF.  Takes 1-1 ½ hours.  

seven.  Allow to cool completely before packing into containers with tight-sealing lids.  Stays good, at room temperature, for several weeks.

My Go-to: Coconut Buckwheat Granola

Ingredients:

1 cup buckwheat groats (also called kasha)

1 cup quick oats (these seem to make the best, crunchy oat clusters in my experience)

1 cup unsweetened, flaked coconut

2 tbs all-natural crunchy peanut butter

2 tbs honey (really delicious with a strong-tasting honey like blackberry honey)

1 cup slivered almonds

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp powdered ginger

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 very ripe banana, mashed

Mix together and bake according to the master recipe instructions.