granola

Ever since I can remember, my Mum baked granola for our breakfast as we were growing up. I remember thinking that there really wasn't anything else I would rather have for breakfast than a bowl of my Mum's granola. 

When I moved away from home six years ago, I knew that I couldn't leave without taking this recipe with me. My friends at university thought I was a bit crazy to be baking my own breakfast but I didn't mind, I needed this incredibly sustaining breakfast & memory from home. There were even times in my first year when I ate granola for breakfast and lunch. 


The last couple of years I have taken to eating weetabix with banana & sultanas when baking granola on a regular basis has not been part of my routine, and for quite a while I thought this was brilliant because it was healthy and felt like it filled me up sufficiently. But oh no, I was forgetting just how brilliant granola is.

Recently, I have craved the oaty goodness that granola provides. So, I've made time to bake a few batches over the last few weeks & I am still relishing the feeling that comes with eating a bowl for breakfast at 7.30am and still feeling content at 12.30pm after a morning of running around with the Nursery children. (I assure you, this is serious hunger-inducing work.) 


I have no idea where this recipe originates, other than my Mother's kitchen. 

Here's how my Mama makes it...

ingredients

1.5 mugs (as in the regular tea or coffee sized mug that you use multiple times a day) of oats
1.5 mugs plain flour (you could use wholemeal to be even more healthy)
1/6 mug sunflower oil (about 50ml)
1/6 mug honey & hot water

for the topping

After baking a batch of granola, I sprinkle a generous amount of wheat germ & sunflower seeds on top. The batch pictured above also has pumpkin seeds & pine nuts in as this is what I had to hand.

method

1) Measure out the flour & oats into a large mixing bowl

2) Pour in the oil & stir with a wooden spoon

3) Meanwhile, place the jar of honey with the lid removed into a pan of simmering water. This will heat the honey to make it runny so you don't have to wrestle with lots of stickyness when trying to get it out of the pan. Leave to simmer for about 5 minutes or until you're ready to use it.

4) Remove the honey from the pan, with a tea towel to hand to wipe off any drips of hot water from the jar, and pour about 0.5cm of honey into the trusty-oh-so-accurate measuring mug.

5) Add a little of the hot water to the honey to make it up to about 50ml (looks like 1.5cm in height in a mug) and stir to combine.

6) Pour the honey mixture into the oat mixture and stir. The mixture will look rather clumpy and like there's not enough liquid - this is all good. Keep stirring until all of the liquid is combined then use your own fair hands to rub together the lumps with the oaty bits until the mixture resembles a slightly lumpy crumble mix.

7) Pour into a roasting tin (no need to grease) and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes at 160C / Gas Mark 3, stirring every 10 minutes or so, so that it bakes evenly.

8) When you remove the granola from the oven it will be pale in colour - if you let it brown too much it won't taste great.

9) Sprinkle with your desired selection of nuts, wheatgerm, etc and leave to cool.

10) Enjoy topped with yoghurt & milk, or whatever liquid base you fancy!


Granola freezes brilliantly, so feel free to increase quantities and freeze a batch. This size batch usually lasts me between 5 - 7 days, depending on my hunger levels!


I grew up on a diet with very little sugar, so you might find that this is not sweet enough for you. Feel free to alter it to suit your taste - that's the joy of granola - the recipe is very adaptable.