The Granola
Granola gets a pretty bad rap about being unhealthy,
but when you make it yourself, you can control the bad stuff – like the amount
of oil, and the type of sugar. I have
tested this recipe with varying amounts of oil and it is difficult to go less
than the amount listed without impacting the crunchiness and overall
texture. For sugar, I use a combination
of brown sugar and maple syrup – I would imagine you can replace some of this
if you prefer honey for your sugar source, but I have not tried it yet. I like to get some of the sweetness from the
dried fruit, so if you decide to cut back on that, you may want to slightly increase the
sugars. And I usually hold back 1 cup of
the nuts until I see how small they got munched in the food processor – if too
small, I’ll hand-chop the last cup to get some bigger pieces.
This recipe makes about 4 ½ litres – although it’s very
simple, it’s a bit time consuming, so I make it in large batches and keep a jar
in the fridge, and the rest in the freezer until needed.
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. I cook mine at a low temperature so that I don’t
have to be quite so obsessive about checking on the granola – nuts are too
expensive to risk burning!
Mix the following in a large bowl (mix well before adding
the syrup!):
- 5 cups mixed nuts, unsalted, unroasted (cashew, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts) – use the pulse button on the food processor to get the size you want
- ½ cup wheat germ
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds
- 7 cups oatmeal
Bring to Boil:
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup canola oil
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- ¾ Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
Coat the dry ingredients with the syrup.
Spread out onto 2 large or 3 small baking trays and place in
oven. Bake for 10 minutes at 275, then
turn down to 225 for another 10 minutes.
I usually give it a stir at this time – try to turn all of it over,
especially around the edges. After
another 15 minutes, start testing it every few minutes for the crunch. Make sure you test the oatmeal bits; the nuts
will actually be soft until they cool off, so it’s the oatmeal that will
determine the crunch at this stage. It’s
usually around 45 minutes total.
Let cool slightly then add:
2 ¾ cups dried fruit (blueberries, cherries, cranberries,
your choice). I’ve added up to 4 cups at
this point, so it’s really a matter of how much fruit you like in your granola
mix.
The Yogurt
I like to eat healthy, but I’d rather eat a small amount of
something rich tasting, than a lot of something that is watery and bland. So I make my yogurt around 6-8% milk
fat. I do this by mixing different
amounts of whatever dairy I have in the fridge.
So 1 cup of 35% heavy cream plus 8 cups of 2% milk equals 9
cups of ~5%. See what I mean?
I usually use a 1 litre carton of 10% half-and-half and 1
litre of 3.5% milk which ends up as 2 litres of 6.75%. I actually don’t eat a lot of yogurt – I find
it lasts at least a month in the fridge, so lots of time to use up 8 cups of
yogurt through cooking (marinades, salad dressing, and mmm … tzatziki) or just
on its own.
Bring the milk products to just under a boil (you don’t want
to let it boil, ugh!). Take off the
heat, and add about 2 Tbsp of non-fat dry milk powder. This is totally optional, but I find it increases the
richness. Let cool to lukewarm, then add
1 heaping Tbsp of plain yogurt (either commercial yogurt, or some from your
last batch). So this is just like yeast for bread, and will
not work if your milk is still too hot.
Then pour it into jars (I don’t sterilize the jars but I do rinse them under
really hot water before filling them up), and pop a lid on.
If you have a yogurt maker, follow the instructions. Otherwise, jars can be put in the oven on “proof”
if you have that feature (this takes less time), or left on top of the fridge (or other slightly warm
location) for 8-15 hours until thickened.
