Fruit-free Granola

I love granola. I don’t love granola made with hunks of fruit. My body doesn’t, either. My body also doesn’t appreciate granola made with coconut, olive, or avocado oil.And how about a recipe for granola that doesn’t have cinnamon? Cinnamon is the one thing I’ve known my whole life I couldn’t eat. It induces migraines. Can we just have some simple, fruit-free granola that is also not full of mashed up dates, please?

YES! YES WE CAN! 

Can we talk? Am I the only one who got almost all the way to forty-nine without ever making granola? For some reason I always thought it would be complicated or messy. Turns out it’s not. But finding a really good, easily adaptable recipe was no small feat. One of my biggest concerns has been substitutions, oil being the biggest one. So many recipes call for coconut oil I was seriously concerned that the coconut oil was doubling up as a binder. I needed validation from the internet somehow that canola is just fine and dandy. Maybe the nuggets would be bigger and crunchier with coconut oil, who knows. It doesn’t matter, anyway. This one is crispy in a really nice way. As recipes on the internet go, I’m pretty sure I’ve found “the one.” Made a few changes, nailed it. It’s crispy, slightly chewy, and nutty. It’s also slightly addictive. Recipe first, then pics and tips. (ps… Since the latest WordPress update my recipe plugin isn’t working, so it’s not a fancy schmancy downloadable for now. Sorry!)

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup organic canola oil
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup pecan bits (omit if you hate pecans, but they really add something special!)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl whisk together the maple syrup and canola oil.
• Add the oats, almonds, pecans, and salt; Mix well.
• Pour the granola mixture onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and spread with a spatula.
• Gently tamp the granola down.
• Bake for 20 minutes, stirring (and gently tamping) once at the halfway point.
• Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
• Gently tamp down the granola once again. This will help make those wonderful clumps.
• When granola is cooled, loosen and break into clumps.
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes:

• When measuring the dry ingredients, do it right over the bowl. No worries if you get a little extra in there.
• When the granola comes out of the oven it will still be fairly wet, and it will be pretty sweet. As it cools it will dry and the sweetness will mellow.

Pics & Tips

The syrup/oil mixture thickens up and takes on a corn syrup-ish consistency when you whisk it. 

Mix everything together well. Don’t worry if you got a little extra of a dry ingredient. Just makes it even tastier!

Spread the granola onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Tamp it down a bit. Stir halfway through baking, then tamp down again before putting it back in the oven.

The granola will still be a bit wet when you take it out of the oven. It will also taste super sweet, but don’t worry, the sweetness will mellow quite a lot as it cools and dries. Stir it, then tamp it down.

Allow granola to cool completely (or as long as you can stand it), then break into hunks. I have no patience, so I stuck the whole pan in the fridge to speed the process.

Store in an air-tight container at room temperature.