All-Natural Apple Cinnamon Granola

Why buy granola from the grocery store with a whole lot of fat and suspect ingredients when you can just make it at home (minus the fat and suspect ingredients)? (Oh, maybe because you don’t have two hours to spare. Silly excuse.)

Granola is seriously easy and healthy. And there’s no limit to the combination of flavors that you can throw in- so if apple and cinnamon doesn’t do it for you, get it on with dried ginger and sunflower seeds instead. Or dried pineapple and coconut. Or dried cherries and almonds. (You get the idea.) Regardless what flavor combo you choose, just know you’re eating a wallop of health. (Really- do you have ANY idea how freaking good chia seeds are for you??)

Adapted from Jon & Julia’s awesome recipe…

5 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant!)

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (coarse or finely ground)

2 tablespoons chia seeds

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

6 tablespoons honey

2 1/2 tablespoons molasses

3 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup dried apples (unsweetened), chopped

1 cup sliced or slivered almonds

3/4 cup raisins
1. Preheat oven to 250° and line 2 large baking sheet with parchment paper (or foil lightly coated with baking spray).
2. In a large bowl, stir first 8 ingredients together (oats through to salt).
3. In a measuring cup, stir together honey, molasses and oil. Gradually pour into large bowl with oats (pouring a bit, stirring, and pouring more… in about 4 additions to ensure even coating of all dry ingredients).
4. Spread oat mixture on prepared baking sheets in even layers and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring with a spatula every 20 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, transfer back to the large bowl, and stir in apples, almonds and raisins. Spread out over baking sheet on a cooling rack to dry out; cool and eat at room temperature. Store in an airtight container.
Tips:
- Don’t worry if the granola doesn’t look totally dried out when you take it out of the oven, as it will dry out on the cooling rack. (Jon, the original granola king, told me this, and I guess I didn’t believe him because I proceeded to keep my first batch in the oven a touch too long… not to the point of the granola being inedible or eligible for a ‘recipe for disaster’, but you know- a bit too toasty.)
- Convection! If you have the feature on your oven, use it. (It’ll help with the whole dry out theme.)
- Creative? Granola is like a blank canvas, I think. Go nuts and try different ingredients… chopped cashews, pecans, pumpkin seeds, dried apricots, dried mangoes, dried strawberries, golden raisins, mini chocolate chips, you name it. (Maybe not all together, or that would be gross.)
- Enjoy!
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July 28th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Unidentifiable!

2 Responses and Counting...

Becky (Becky Bakes) 07.28.2012

This looks like a really yummy version! Can’t wait to try it…thanks!
More Sweets Please

Glad you like the looks of it… it makes a great gift in a cute glass jar, by the way :)