Hi Cozy Rustic friends!
When my lovely pal Bunny asked me to share one of my DIY projects, I immediately thought to write about my mother's delightfully tasty and ridiculously user-friendly granola recipe. Instead of spending oodles of money on cereal, I make this recipe every week for my fiance and I to eat for breakfast (he knows I like my granola like I like my men: cheap, easy and full of wheat germ.) And I wrapped up jars of it and gave it away for Thanksgiving and Christmas presents this year! It's worth noting: I made batches for vegans and non-vegans alike as it's incredibly easy to adapt to suit your needs. I hope you enjoy it!
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup rolled oats (not instant!)
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup shredded coconut (optional but recommended!)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped nuts (peanuts are good, but my mom always recommends almonds. I like cashews too!)
1/2 cup raisins
2 Tbsps chia seeds (optional but gives a great dose of antioxidants!)
1/2 cup oil (grapeseed works great)
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbsp. milk
Cinnamon
First thing's first: preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Now, mix all your dry ingredients together. As I said, feel free to add in whatever dry goods that flip your fancy. I love adding in dried cranberries to the mix when I'm using cashews or substituting walnuts in lieu of almonds.
Next, mix all your wet ingredients. You can easily make this vegan by replacing the honey with agave or maple syrup and using almond milk. Another great addition at this step is adding a drizzle of vanilla extract!
Now pour your wets onto your dry and mix it all up. Spread it out onto two baking sheets so that there's just one layer of oats. At this step, I get cinnamon-happy and do one shake of the ol' cinnamon bottle over each pan. A little bit goes a long way!
Now stick those suckers in!
Toast for 7-8 minutes, then remove from the oven, scrape from the sides of pan and mix it up. Stick 'em back in! Side note: your kitchen will start to smell AWESOME right about now. Repeat 2-3 times more until granola is golden-brown. (Another way to tell it's done is when the raisins expand back into a grape-shape.) Let cool for a few minutes, then store in an airtight container. Eat with yogurt, milk, cottage cheese, over ice cream, mixed with berries...whatever your heart desires.
Or give them away to all your friends and family! Santa had nothing on me this year.
Granola is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Cheers,
