Homemade granola recipe

We love granola, but store-bought varieties often contain more nasties than you’d expect – and that’s why this homemade granola recipe is heaven-sent. It allows you to control the amount of sugar on your morning cereal, and the freshly roasted nuts take the flavour to a higher level, too. Cook’s tip: serve on coconut yogurt, topped with granola and blueberries. You can be adventurous with your nuts and seeds. When cooked you can add an assortment of dried fruits. My preference is for dried banana chips and pecans, but once you get the hang of making your own, you really can be adventurous!

Ingredients

(serves 12)

400g gluten-free oats, sifted

60g sunflower seeds

60g pumpkin seeds

80g whole pecans

100g whole almonds

4tbsp rice bran oil

8tbsp maple syrup

2 pinches sea salt

1tsp vanilla bean extract

For the garnish:

1tbsp toasted sesame seeds

100g raisins

80g banana chips

20g coconut chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Cover a large baking tray with parchment paper, add the sifted oats, whole almonds, whole pecans, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and spread in a even layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, check every 5 minutes and stir to ensure the nuts don’t over brown or burn. Bake until crisp and golden.

In a small saucepan heat the oil, maple syrup, vanilla bean extract and salt over a gentle heat for 2 minutes, then set aside.

When the oat mixture has cooked, remove from the oven and pour over the maple syrup mixture, mix until well coated.

Reduce the oven temperature to 140°C. Place the granola back in the oven, cook for 5-10 minute, stirring after 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray, add the toasted sesame seeds, banana  and raisins.

Serve with cold milk or yoghurt.
 The granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month.

Recipe courtesy of myrelationshipwithfood.com