Homemade Granola

I’ve been making, and eating, granola for breakfast for at least 30 years. My favourite procedure is to add sliced strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and banana in various combinations. And milk, not yogurt. If I’m out of fresh fruit (horrors!) I’ll use dried cranberries (Ocean Spray please) or raisins or chopped dried apricots.

This recipe is based on one from a book published in the seventies called Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé. I have tried many versions of granola over the years, incuding a recent recipe for chocolate granola, a recipe by a famous New York chef (Eleven Madison Park’s Daniel Humm) and one kindly given to me from the chef at the old Four Seasons in Toronto, after I had it for breakfast there. But this recipe is my old standby.

Jane’s Granola

6 cups old fashioned rolled oats


1/2 cup each
:   wheat germ
    Sesame seeds
    Sunflower seeds
    Canola or light olive oil
    Maple syrup or honey

Almonds
  Walnuts Cashews
    Unsweetened coconut


Method:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix together oats, wheat germ, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds and nuts.

Pour the oil into a 2 cup measuring cup, then add the syrup or honey on top. Mix well into dry ingredients. 

Spread mixture on two rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment paper

Bake for about an hour, stirring the mix after 30 minutes. 

Ready for a taste test.

Bonus recipe! - Four Seasons Hotel Granola

8 cups rolled oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

100 grams pecans

100 grams walnuts

100 grams slivered almonds

1/3 cup honey

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted

1/4 cup orange juice (approx)

Mix oats, sugar, nuts in a mixer with a paddle attachment to crush the nuts and any sugar lumps

Add honey and butter.

Then add orange juice just to bind.

Place on a baking tray and bake at 375°F until golden brown.