DIY Granola

Would I like to eat a crunchy, melt-in-the-mouth waffle (or six)? With a scoop of ice cream? Melting into lazy pools on the dimpled surface? Melding with the blueberry compote and forming marbled patterns?

Yes, yes and yes! And yes, yes, yes!

But the stern visage of my daughter interrupts this day dream; and the crisp but tender forkful, a receptacle for the sweet vanilla ice cream and the tart berry compote, vanishes in a puff.

I have to settle for a more mundane, low fat, alternative– Granola.

I’ll let you into a little secret — my tinkered-with version from All Recipes, is crunchy and fragrant and redolent with spices. Top it with a scoop of low fat vanilla yoghurt, throw in some fresh blue berries, and I promise you, it comes close to the waffle of my dreams. And you can feel holier than thou.

Use this recipe as a blue print and find your own Granola Nirvana.

Recipe:

Ingredients

6 cups of rolled oats

1 cup of mixed nuts and seeds (I use a combination of almonds, sunflower seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds)

2 tbsps vegetable oil

2 tbsps of honey or rice syrup

2 tbsps peanut butter or almond butter or cashew butter

2 tbsps of brown sugar (optional)

1 tsp cinnamon (powdered)

1/2 tsp cloves (powdered)

1 cup of any dried fruit or a combination of 2-3 ( I use cranberries/ goji berries/ raisins/ dates/ figs/ apricots)

Method

Preheat oven to 180* C

Measure out the oats and nuts/seeds into a bowl.

Gently heat the oil, honey, nut butter and spices (and the brown sugar if you are using it) together until they become more liquid.

Cool until warm to the touch then pour into the oat mixture. Use your hands to evenly coat the oats and nuts.

Transfer the coated mixture into a shallow tray, then bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring every so often.

Watch the mixture like a hawk, to prevent it from charring. Turn the heat down if necessary.

Once the mixture is golden and fragrant quit being a hawk and take the tray out and cool to room temperature.

When cool, add the dried fruit of your choice (or a combination) and pour into a jar or bottle.

Tuck into your granola, topping it with fresh berries and a scoop of sweetened yoghurt.

As good as that waffle, and a million times healthier!

I love giving my Granola (packaged in a bottle, dressed up with a pretty bow) as a gift to friends.

Write in telling me what you love eating for breakfast.