Saturday. Today was one of the first Saturdays I can remember in a long time where I had the whole day to myself. So of course, the weather was sunny and beautiful rather than grey and pouring rain as it’s been for the past couple of weeks. I so wished I had a brunch or picnic to go to! Or even a barbecue at the park; anything that would have required me to be outside and social! I considered going out for a run, but given that I had gone to the salon earlier in the day for a fantastic cut and blowout, I felt it would have been a shame to ruin it so soon. Mind you, I only get my hair cut about 2 or 3 times a year, so when I do, I tend to relish the blowout for as long as I can!
With no other plans for the day, I settled into my apartment with a cozy cup of coffee and my laptop. With Fork & Flair newly born, and having recently introduced C to the wonders of Pinterest, we had plenty to talk about on Skype! At some point in our conversation, I was reminded of wanting to try my hand at homemade granola. Not that it’s difficult for me to buy natural and delicious granolas at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods; I wanted to see if I could make it and simultaneously use up some of the steel cut oats I’ve been hoarding in my cupboards for ages — from when I used to eat oatmeal every morning without getting bored.
Naturally, C sent over her ‘go-to’ granola recipe via email, pronto. Given that I wanted to incorporate steel cut oats, which is not a usual ingredient in most granolas, I had to improvise. Thankfully the beauty of granola is that it’s fairly forgiving, especially of the non-essential ingredients such as dried fruits and nuts, seeds, and flavor spices that one decides to dump into the mix. I also used apple butter instead of a vegetable or coconut oil because I had a half-used jar of apple butter sitting in my refrigerator and I read on a few other recipes I found online that apple sauce sometimes can do the trick of providing moisture to homemade granolas in the place of oils. Apple butter….close enough to apple sauce, right?
Nesting doll measuring cups
1st Attempt at Homemade Granola
- 2 cups steel cut oats
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup chia seeds
- 1/2 cup flaxseeds
- 1/2 cup sliced raw almonds
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup dried apricots
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup apple butter
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
I mixed all the ingredients together starting with the dry, then added the fruits and nuts, and finished with the honey, apple butter, and spices. I cranked my oven up to 300*F, lined 2 baking sheets with the mixture, and baked for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
The end result proved…..unique. It was on the crunchy and loose side, which I am OK with since I tend to eat granola mixed in yogurt or kefir (a.k.a. drinkable yogurt) anyways. For those who prefer a sweeter, more clustered granola, I would suggest using only rolled oats, leaving out the hard seeds like chia and flax, and adding in the dried fruit after baking. Dried fruits and nuts are completely optional, of course, along with the spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. It all depends on preference. But, I would suggest opting in on the oil (a couple of tablespoons), unless you like a looser granola too.
~ J
Homemade granola with yogurt
Warm and toasty out of the oven
Fork & Flair 