Looking for a Quick healthy breakfast option. Try this Granola Recipe!

Quick Easy Granola

I love granola and granola bars especially the chewy bars. However, the granola available at the groceries in Trinidad and Tobago are expensive if they have a lot of added nuts and dried fruits. If they are budget friendly, they are full of sugar and are mostly oats with a sprinkle of nuts.

While granola may seem daunting to make, it is quite a simple recipe, and anyone can make it. Granola is made with sweetened oats that have been toasted in the oven sometimes with additions of dried fruits and nuts.

It’s a popular healthy breakfast and can be eaten on its own or added to yogurts with fruits or sprinkled in parfaits for an added crunch. Loose granola can also be eaten with milk like a cereal.

This granola is healthy, contains less sugar and fat than commercially available ones and customizable to your needs. You can add any type of dried fruit, seeds or nuts or chocolate chips.

Granola and Yogurt

Video

Helpful Tips

·       To make this granola I used quick cook oats and not rolled oats.

·       I prefer to toast the oats before adding the sauce because I feel the texture is much better. You can also add any untoasted nuts at this point.

·       The sauce ingredients combine dates, peanut butter and sugar and some oil. For this recipe I reduced the amount of oil and sugar to create a granola that is just sweet enough and healthier.

·       If you prefer you can add extra honey when serving. I would not add honey in place of sugar because according to ayurveda, heating honey makes it very hard to digest. The salt adds a lot of flavour and that salty sweet combination is addictive.

·       I do not like very crunchy granola, so I baked it to my preference, but oven temperatures do vary; check at 15-minute intervals until the oats reach your desired level of crunchiness.

Easy Healthy Granola Recipe

Recipe:

Type:                   Snack
Time:                  1 hr
Level:                 Medium

Ingredients

3c                   oats
1 c                  untoasted nuts (see notes for toasted nuts)
2 tsp               coconut oil
1/2c                cocoa nibs and chocolate chips (optional)
1/2c                cranberries or other dried fruit

Sauce

4                    dates
1/3c               peanut butter
1/2c               sugar
1/4c               water
1/8c + 1tb      olive oil
¾ tsp             salt
3/4tsp            cinnamon

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Add nuts and coconut oil to the oats and mix well.
3. Add to a sheet pan and cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
4. While the oats are toasting make the sauce by add all the sauce ingredients to a food processor and blend till smooth.
5. Take the oats out of the oven and add the sauce and mix well.
6. Put back into the oven and cook for 30 minutes, mixing at 15 minutes.
7. Once the oats have reached the required level of crunchiness take out of the oven and add the dried fruits and cocoa nibs when cooled.

Tips

• If you are using toasted nuts, add nuts at step 5.

© Aruna R. Khudan