Recipe: Homemade Granola

Granola and cereals had always been one of the most common items for my breakfast. Though there are so many varieties and options on shelf in Tesco and Sainsbury etc, with my obsession to reduce sugar intake I’m always been reading the ingredient labels to find one with the least amount of sugar or fructose. Plus, those boxed cereal and granola that comes with berries or fruits have minimal amount of dried berries and fruits. So, I tried making my own after searching for some recipes online and mashing a couple of them together.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups        rolled oats (old-fashion oats)
1/4 cup      vegetable oil
1/4 cup      honey
2 tbsp        brown sugar*
1/4 tsp      ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp      vanilla essence
80g            dried berries (a mixture of cranberries and blueberries)
30g            mixed seeds
50g            almond flakes

*2 tbsp of brown sugar made my granola a little too sweet for my liking, but I haven’t got a sweet tooth. Adjust the amount of sugar to your liking.

Directions:

1. Pre heat the oven to 170C.

2. Mix the rolled oats with vegetable oil, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon powder and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl. Make sure all the oats are well coated.

3. Spread the oats on a baking tray lines with baking paper and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes and turn over the unexposed side then bake further for another 15 minutes until the oats are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.

Spread out onto a large baking tray

4. When the granola has cooled, toss in the berries, almond flakes and mixed seeds and mix well.
TIP: The granola will hardened into lumps as it cools so break up the large lumps if you prefer. The berries, almond flakes and seeds can me replaced with raisins, whole almond etc.

Amazing homemade granola

5. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

This was my first time making granola and I’m surprised by how easy it is to make my own granola. Plus, the best part is being able to control the amount of sugar and honey and load it with tonnes of dried berries. The granola taste similar to those sold in store with a strong scent of cinnamon and honey. They go along well with milk or even plain yogurt.

ENJOY! :D