Maple Oat Granola–Yum!
I have a confession–I had never made granola before! I always felt that what I bought was OK, but when I couldn’t find the one we really liked, I had to settle for some ingredients that I just didn’t like. Finally, one day recently, I ran across this easy recipe that sounded delicious and I realized that I could make a granola that just had what we wanted! It seemed too easy but I had to try.
This granola is so delicious, I think I will be making it every couple of weeks to have it on hand. Plus it was fun to plan just what flavors everybody wanted in their gluten-free breakfast cereal. We all decided what dried fruit to use–this time it was dried cranberries–but I think I’ll try dates or raisins in the fall. I admit that the recipe calls for 3/4 cup of maple syrup, which seemed a lot and in the future I might do a short measure just to see if I can get away with it. Limiting sugar is a long-term goal of mine. But I always try the recipe as printed at least the first time. We’ll see how things develop over time.
I hope you play with the meals you make for your gluten-free family. Once I have a recipe that the entire family likes, I look at the nutrition to see if I can add to it but still get the same results. For example, I’ll try using a little less syrup but add natural maple flavoring–just to see if we can get the same results with less sugar. Often, my family has no idea that I have tinkered with their favorites! A mom has to do what a mom has to do! The other thing I’m going to do is not stir it too much so I have larger clumps of the granola. I can see this as hand food for a road trip–my own gluten-free, trail mix! Also, I can see breakfast yogurt parfaits for girl’s overnights! Yay!
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cups maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cups Positively Free ™ Instant Oats
- ½ cup slivered almonds
- ¼ cup sweetened, dried cranberries
- ¼ cup roasted, salted sunflower kernals
- ¼ cup roasted, salted pumpkin seeds
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a medium size cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine butter, syrup and honey in a small saucepan and heat on medium just until the butter is melted. Do not boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Put the oats, almonds, dried cranberries, sunflower kernels and pumpkin seeds in a large mixing bow and stir to combine. This is when I make sure the cranberries are separated as they tend to stick together. Gradually pour in the butter mixture and stir. I usually do half of the butter mixture, stir and then add the second half so it gets thoroughly and evenly mixed into the dry ingredients.
- Spread this mixture on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or so. Stir after about 7 minutes. Turn off oven and allow granola to cool in the oven. It will crisp up as it cools. Enjoy!