Homemade Easy Granola

Why bother making your own granola? I mean, the stuff that comes in a nice box all full of stuff can’t really be that different and making your own sounds like such a hassle right? Nope. As it turns out making your own is not only ridiculously easy but it’s so much tastier than anything I’ve tried pre-bought. I find the readymade ones are far too sweet and you spend every morning searching for the elusive hazelnuts you’re pretty sure are meant to be in there. With my homemade easy granola you make up your mind and decide exactly what goes in your breakfast.

The best thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to be very exact; a few grams over or under aren’t going to make any real difference and it’s so versatile you can add whatever you want, just stick to the proportions below.

You will need (makes a big jar):

• 350g oats
• 200g nuts (I used pistachios, walnuts and hazelnuts)
• 100g seeds (I used a five seed mix)
• 50g coconut flakes or desiccated coconut
• 100g dried fruit (I used dried cranberries)
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 120ml honey or maple syrup

Mix together the oats, nuts, seeds and coconut in a large bowl.

Melt the coconut oil and honey together in a saucepan until combined.

Pour the honey mixture over the dry ingredients and mix everything together with a spoon.

Preheat an oven to 150C. Line two baking trays (or one very large one) with greaseproof paper and pour the mixture onto the trays. Spread the mix out so it’s in roughly one layer then pop into the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes, take the granola out and turn the mixture over with a spoon so it gets evenly toasted. Return the tray to the oven for a further 15 minutes. You want everything to be nice and golden but not overcooked so it might need a little more or less than 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Mix the dried fruit in to the granola and store in an airtight container.

If you wanted to you could add some cinnamon to the honey mixture to give everything a lovely spiciness and if you want to leave the coconut out you can add some dark chocolate or cocoa nibs when you mix through the dried fruit. Raisins or dried blueberries are really good; as is a mix of brazil, pecan and macadamia nuts. The possibilities are literally endless.

You can also add a handful of cornflakes or rice crispies if you wanted to bulk the mix out a bit and make it go further; depends how much you like to put in your bowl and how often you want to make it!

One word of warning: once you make a step into the world of homemade granola, you’ll never go back. It’s not something I ever thought I’d get in to but here I am: a bonefide, breakfast pre-planning, granola maniac. I love that I can just pick up whatever I have in the cupboard, chuck it all together and ta-dah, breakfast for the week! It’s really good with natural yoghurt, I have also tried pouring apple juice over it rather than milk and that’s pretty fine too.