Golden Delicious Granola

Crunchy golden morsels of yum. Seedy, nutty, toasted oat perfection. Lightly sweetened, just enough to make your taste-buds tingle with happy while eating something that’s quite good for you.

I love granola. It’s the perfect topping for yogurt with fresh fruit. It’s delicious sprinkled on top of ice cream or mixed into a smoothie. It’s absolutely incredible in its purest form – especially when it’s really good granola – made exactly how you like it. A colleague of mine a few years back told me that she made her own granola. After tasting hers, I was inspired to try it myself and have been sold ever since!

This granola recipe has become my go-to recipe for my favorite yogurt topping. It’s super simple to whip up and stays fresh and delicious when stored in the freezer. Get fancy with it, if you’d like, by sprinkling in spices like cinnamon and allspice. I like to keep it on the simple side – making it the perfect toasted treat to top a variety of tasty fruit and dairy canvasses (or to just eat plain – seriously, it’s that good).

I hope you enjoy this recipe. My entire family loves it – so much that I find myself serving up seconds and thirds during breakfast and even find my husband sneaking a handful of it to snack on fresh out of the oven. Let me know what you think – you may find it hard to go back to store-brought granola again.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Old Fashioned Oats (I like to use Quaker Old Fashioned Oats)
• 1 1/2 cups raw (not toasted) nuts of choice, roughly chopped. Truly – this is for you! Use a combination of what you like. I like to use 1 1/2 cups of whatever nuts I have on hand. I often purchase a variety of nuts in bulk so that makes it easy. Sliced almonds, walnuts, cashews and pecans are all great choices.
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (note – you can use honey here if you do not have maple syrup available. The granola will stick together a bit more in this case. No worries – this isn’t a bad thing and makes it easier to snack on in clusters, fresh off of the pan :).
• 4 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 tsp salt

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Combine oats, nuts, seeds and coconut flakes.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, vegetable oil and salt.
4. Combine both mixtures and pour onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
5. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even golden color.
6. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Store mixture in a gallon-size freezer bag in the freezer. Use as needed – no need to defrost. It will remain perfectly fresh and crunchy, straight from the freezer. Enjoy!