Maple-Brown Sugar Granola

Making homemade granola is another of those food items that comes out on top in terms of cost/benefit- easy and relatively low in cost to make yourself compared to buying it and so much healthier. We gave up eating commercial cereal for most part when I started making my own granola a couple years ago and this is now a staple food in the house.

I make a simple maple and brown sugar granola but feel free to experiment with different spices and flavors and sweeteners.

All you need is a pound of oats (just plain, regular oats, not steel-cut or quick-cooking, or Irish), good grade B maple syrup, some dark or regular brown sugar and oil. I have been using coconut oil because of the wonderful flavor and fragrance and it gives the granola a really nice crunch. But you can use any neural oil- vegetable or canola, just not olive oil.

Empty the pound of granola into a large mixing bowl and in a glass measuring cup, melt 1/3 cup coconut oil (or just add other oil), 2/3 cup maple syrup, 2-3 heaping tablespoons brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Mix throughly and pour over the oats and mix well with a spatula. The oats should be well-coated and shiny but not soaking with excess liquid. Spread the mixture evenly onto a jelly roll pan and bake in a 375 degrees oven.

  

After about 10 minutes mix around the granola in the pan, pulling in from the edges with a spatula and spread it out again and continue baking. You may need to do this once or twice more to keep the edges from getting burnt and the middle from being under-done. The granola is finished when it is a nice golden brown. It will get good and crispy as it cool. 

 

Let cool completely and store in an air-tight container. I have a separate "toppings" container where there are several types of nuts, dried fruit or toasted dried coconut and yes, even chocolate chips, so everyone can make their own granola of choice. One of my daughter's friends is crazy about the granola at our house and she's even adopted my rule and told her mother that the chocolate chips are just for "snack" granola not "breakfast" granola. And of course it is delicious on homemade yogurt (see post above)!