Homemade Granola

Category: Healthy eating

Kitchen: American

Ingredients
Oat flakes	300 g
Nuts, seeds, sesame seeds, flax	200 g
Dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, cranberries)	150 g
Honey	3-4 tbsp. l.
Vegetable oil	2.5 tbsp. l.

Cooking method

1. Granola is based on oatmeal, nuts and dried fruits. Instead of dried fruits or nuts, you can take seeds: pumpkin or sunflower. You can also add sesame seeds or coconut. The main thing is that for granola you need to take ordinary NOT FAST-COOKED oatmeal.
2. Chop the nuts (I took walnuts) with a knife or chop them into small pieces with a hammer.
3. Dried fruits (it can be raisins, cranberries, dried apricots), rinse well and cover with warm water. I had light raisins.
4. In a deep bowl, combine oatmeal and chopped nuts, seeds (I have flax, sesame and pumpkin seeds).
5. Add honey and vegetable oil. Dark honey is more aromatic, but if not, then light honey will also do a great job of caramelization.
6. Stir with your hands, carefully combining the dry portion with honey and butter. You should have a fairly sticky mass that looks like lumps.
7. Place the granola in a dish or baking sheet. The container in which the granola will be baked does not have to be covered with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 130-150 degrees. Bake the oatmeal for 30-35 minutes. It is better to dry it by convection at a lower temperature.
8. Stir the granola with a spoon or wooden spatula every 7-8 minutes. It is very important! The granola should cook well and evenly.
9. 5 minutes before cooking, add raisins or cranberries dried on paper towels to the granola. If you put dried fruits right away, they will burn and give bitterness or be too dry and hard. The granola will feel damp right out of the oven, but as it cools, it will become crumbly and crunchy. In the process of cooling, the granola must be stirred several more times so that it remains crumbly.
10. Pour the cooled granola into a jar or container with a sealed lid. Eat granola with yogurt or milk (hot or cold), fresh berries and fruits. You can also stuff an apple with granola and bake it in the oven, and also mix the granola with cottage cheese and sour cream.
Using different nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, flax, seeds), as well as a variety of dried fruits, you can get a new type of granola every time.