Granola is typically a mixture of oats, nuts or dried fruits bound together with honey and oil, then baked. It can be baked in clumps for a looser granola cereal or pressed together to make bars. Store-bought granola can be filled with artificial ingredients and preservatives. By making it at home, you can control both the types of ingredients and their quality.
Ingredients
Choose rolled or old-fashioned oats for your base. The vast majority of your granola should consist of oats or else it won't hold together firmly and will resemble a crumb topping instead of a hearty granola. You'll need an adhesive to hold the mixture together. While honey is traditional, you can substitute maple syrup for a stronger flavor. Select a light-colored oil, such as canola or vegetable, that will make the granola pliable without adding an overwhelming flavor. The basic proportions for granola are approximately 5 cups oats to 3/4 cup honey and 1/2 cup oil. You can customize the granola with add-ins, such as chopped nuts, coconut, dried fruit or chocolate pieces. Use about 1 cup of each add-in and limit them to about two or three to prevent overpowering the oats.
Preparation
Since granola ingredients have varying textures, it can be difficult and messy to simply add them to a bowl and stir. To make it easier, add the oil and honey to a saucepan and heat on the stove top over a low heat just until the mixture is warm and the honey is melted. Mix the oats and additional ingredients together in a bowl so they're evenly distributed throughout the mixture. Add the warm oil and honey into the other ingredients slowly and stop occasionally to stir the granola. If you add all the oil and honey at once, the granola may become soggy.
Transfer the granola to a baking sheet and spread it across the sheet so it bakes evenly. Bake granola at a low temperature (between 250 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit) or it can become too hard. If you want loose granola, remove it from the oven every five minutes to stir it. For granola bars, keep the granola mixture as close as possible so it bakes into a solid piece, then cut into bars afterward. The baking time can depend on how large your batch it and what added ingredients you used, so carefully supervise the granola and remove when it's golden brown. It can take from 20 minutes (for a basic granola) to over an hour if you have extra ingredients.
Storage
Serve loose granola as a cereal in a bowl with milk or combine it with yogurt. Loose granola can also be used as a crunchy dessert topping or simply eaten plain as a snack. Granola bars are served plain as a quick snack. If you're not eating loose granola immediately, transfer it to airtight containers and keep in the refrigerator for up to one week. Wrap granola bars individually in wax paper because plastic wrap may stick to the bars. Add the wrapped bars to a large plastic storage bag and keep in the refrigerator. Storing your granola in the refrigerator will prevent it from hardening, especially since homemade granola doesn't contain artificial preservatives to extend its shelf life.
Tags: granola cereal, granola remove, keep refrigerator, loose granola, mixture warm