granola is one of my favorite gifts to give at holidays. it's nourishing, delicious, and can be a healthy treat atop greek yogurt or skyr, or a decadent topping for ice cream or apple crisp. feel free to play with the mix-ins and the types of oil – but avoid the seed oils (as always).
BASIC GRANOLA
3 cups whole rolled oats (look for gluten free certified if that is a concern)
1 c quinoa or millet or flaked UNSWEETENED coconut
1 c nuts or seeds (pepitas, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc)
1/2 c maple syrup
1/3 c olive, coconut, or avocado oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (recommend Saigon Vietnamese cinnamon)
1 tsp real salt (recommend Redmond's)
1/2 c UNSWEETENED dried fruit (look for NO added sugar; favorites include cranberries, cherries, or blueberries)
- heat oven to 325 F. line a baking sheet with parchment.
- mix oats, seeds/nuts, millet/quinoa, salt, cinnamon in a large bowl.
- in a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, vanilla. pour liquid over the dry ingredients and combine until coated.
- pile onto a baking sheet no deeper than 3-4 cm. if you have too much granola for the sheet, separate onto 2 sheets but be sure to bake them separately OR side by side on the same level of the oven OR switch their levels evenly so you don't end up with one burnt and one under-done.
- bake for 40 minutes. recommend checking at 20 minutes to stir everything around. you can bake an extra 10 minutes if you want more crispiness.
- let cool. add dried fruit and chocolate if you wish.
- store in all your saved glass jars, then share with everyone you love. these will freeze infinitely and reheat great in a toaster oven or air fryer on the toast setting, or keep at room temp up to 2 weeks.