The wonders of granola. Homemade that is.

Why on earth have I never written about granola before?! 

I mean, I have been playing with the idea for over a year and did lots of research for the perfect recipe in the form of scoffing endless boxes of the stuff and always decided I didn’t like them at all so I had to make my own.

HAD TO.

And I finally did – For bloody Christmas 2011.
Better late than never.

I mean, what could go wrong with something I'd never made before?
It looks easy enough!
And then the horror stories of forgotten granolas in the oven for an extra 5 minutes coming out as dark as the night started pouring in.
Oh dear...

2 nights before Christmas day I decided to try my luck anyhow - Worst case scenario I'd share some of the All Bran I was keeping in the cupboard.
You know, to help with digestion and that.
Mum was doing something or the other (possibly cleaning the flat and scrubbing the walls of our fridge to my delight) and dad was sitting in the kitchen, suggesting bits to add and what not, pouring wine...

I tried my best to drink that wine as slowly as I could just in case I got too distracted and disaster in Burnt Granola form struck.

Nothing [bad] happened.
In fact, it came out just fine.

Well, for my taste that is.

You see, what I like the most about granola is the fact that there isn’t such a thing as the perfect spice/nuts/fruit mix – It varies very much from person to person and you can add or remove whatever you want.

As long as there are oats, honey/maple syrup and a little bit of vegetable oil involved it will be. Just. Fine.

And then you pour it into a bowl with yoghurt and more honey. Or apple sauce. Or some berries sauce. Or marmalade. Yes, I think marmalade would work too.

And you have it for breakfast.

Or you just put your hand in the jar and pick it out every time you walk past.

Not that I’d do that.

Ever.

[My] Ultimate Granola

Makes around 10 servings (depending on how greedy you are...)

2 cups large oats
1/2 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup pecans roughly chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground long pepper (or normal black pepper if easier)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup green pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 160C (gas mark 3)
Line a large bakign tray with baking paper.
In a bowl mix oats, nuts, coconut, spices and salt.
In a separate bowl stir together the oil, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla.
Pour the wet mix over the oat mix and stir until well coated.
Spread out onto the baking sheet.
Bake for 20-30 minutes - stiring every 10 minutes - until golden.
Remove from the oven and mix in the pumpkin seeds and cranberries.
Let it cool completely and store in a preserving jar (it will last about a month in there)