Who doesn’t like granola? My favorite way to enjoy granola is over Greek yogurt for breakfast. Sometimes I’ll add milk to a bowl of granola for a great alternative to cereal; sprinkle it over ice cream as a yummy crunchy topping; or add 1/3 cup of dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries, raisins, dates or apricots, and eat it by the handful as a snack. The type of nuts or seeds can be swapped out. I sometimes use more walnuts and omit the pecans or use pepitas (pumpkin seeds) instead of sunflower seeds. Choose your favorite nuts. Just make sure the nuts are unsalted. The granola can be stored up to 1 week in an airtight container. Placed into a mason jar wrapped with a bow, fresh homemade granola makes a nice little gift. Who doesn’t like granola?
Ingredients:
- 3 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick oats)
- 1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted cashews
- 1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted pecans
- 1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted almonds
- 1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted walnuts
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Combine oats, sunflower seeds, chopped nuts, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. In separate small bowl, whisk together oil, honey, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Pour over oat mixture and combine thoroughly. Spread out evenly over parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown, stirring granola every 12-14 minutes to ensure even browning. Allow granola to cool on pan completely unless you forgot to line the pan with parchment paper. Clean up might be easier if the granola is transferred from an unlined baking sheet to a glass casserole dish to cool. Otherwise, the granola will cool to crisp little chunks and slide right off the parchment paper. I prefer to leave the granola in some smaller chunks to store.
Cool and store in airtight container up to 1 week, if it lasts that long.
The Hungry Athlete 