Make Ahead
Granola
- Prep time 10 minutes
- Cook time 30 minutes
- makes about 14 cups
Author Notes
My granola recipe is packed with nuts and dried fruit. From the ingredient list you might think it’s going to be too sweet. It’s actually not as sweet as most commercial brands. For the dried fruit, I generally use a mixture of whatever I’ve got in the pantry—cranberries, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, and golden raisins or currants. Sometimes, I even skip the dried fruit and just add fresh berries to my breakfast bowl. Feel free to substitute walnuts or peeled hazelnuts for the almonds and pecans, or you can leave the nuts out altogether.
Note: Dry weather is the best for making granola. Too much humidity will make it soggy, so watch the skies and take advantage of a cool, clear morning or evening when you find yourself at home with an hour or so to spare. —Margot Mustich
Ingredients
-
1 3/4 cups
(8 ounces) slivered almonds
-
2 cups
pecan halves
-
2 tablespoons
vegetable oil
-
1/3 cup
honey
-
2/3 cup
pure maple syrup
-
2 tablespoons
Lyle’s Golden Syrup
-
8 cups
old-fashioned oats
-
1 ½ to 2 cups
mixed dried fruit
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Place the almonds and pecans on two half-sheet pans. (I like to keep the almonds separate from the pecans in case one is done before the other.) When the oven is hot, place the baking sheets in the upper and lower third of the oven and bake until the almonds turn a nice golden brown color and you start to smell the aroma of toasted nuts, about 8 to 12 minutes. Remove the baking sheets to racks to cool.
- Break or coarsely chop the pecan halves. Set these and the almonds aside.
- Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the vegetable oil, honey, maple syrup, and golden syrup. Stir or whisk to combine.
- Place the oats in a large mixing bowl. Pour the wet ingredients over the oats, and stir well until the oats are evenly coated.
- Spoon half of the oats onto each of the lined pans. Bake for 10 minutes. Without disturbing the oats, turn the pans around, back to front, and then switch them so that the pan that was on the top rack is now on the bottom rack and vice versa. Bake for another 10 to 12 minutes, until the oats turn a rich brown color. Keep a watchful eye over them for the last 5 minutes or so. Oats can go from browned to burned in a matter of a minute! Remove the pans to racks to cool.
- Transfer the cooled oat clusters to a clean large mixing bowl. Add the nuts and the dried fruit. Stir well. You’re done! When stored in an airtight jar this granola stays fresh and crunchy for several weeks.
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