Almond and Cranberry Granola

May 14, 2012

This granola is everything I love about granola: big chunks of nuts and gooey, chewy dried fruit, alongside smaller, easy-to-chew oats and seeds all bound up in a deep, rich honey coating and toasted to a dark, cinnamon-y perfection.

I don’t know about you but granola is one of my very favourite things to eat for breakfast. I love having a bowl of it with milk and it’s also amazing with yoghurt. Either way I almost always chop a banana on top of it. It provides that sweet kick I often crave first thing in the morning and yet it’s refreshing with milk or yoghurt and eating all those oats and nuts is wonderful. Texturally it’s spot on.

I adore whole almonds in cereal – I often add them to oatmeal or warm spiced breakfast quinoa – I just love the texture and crunch of them whole with their skins. I can’t be messing around with the slivered variety – I just don’t see the point of them. Cranberries are a great flavour to combine with almonds and I also added dried cherries here which work marvelously.

Here’s the very best thing about making granola if you never have – it’s all about delving into the depths of your kitchen cupboards and using up bits and bobs of what you have. What I happened to have surplus of on hand, you see here. So long as you have rolled oats for a base and some kind of nut and dried fruit you’re good to go! Just get inventive.

In terms of texture, you can also play around. I happen to love big chunks of things in my granola – like the whole almonds – but if you don’t then chop everything. Just pick flavours and textures you love and do your thing. Enjoy!

Almond and Cranberry Granola
adapted from Alice Currah

Notes: if you prefer a less chunky granola then be sure to chop the nuts up well. If you’re using those big, juicy organic dried cherries/cranberries then you might want to hold them back and only add them to the mix about half way through baking – otherwise they will be pretty dang crunchy.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups/ 255 grams rolled oats (not the instant kind)
  • 1/2 cup/ 43 grams wheat flakes
  • 1/2 cup/ 72 grams sunflower seeds
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup/ 94 grams almonds (I like to leave half of them whole and roughly chop the rest)
  • 1/4 cup/ 30 grams mix of chopped pecans and whole hazelnuts
  • 3/4 cup/ 113 grams dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup/ 38 grams dried cherries
  • 1/4 cup/ 56 grams vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup/ 7.3 grams brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup/ 85 grams honey
  • 2 tablespoons water

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300F/ 150C.
  2. Combine rolled oats, wheat flakes, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, cranberries, and cherries in a large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl combine vegetable oil, brown sugar, honey, and water and whisk gently to combine.
  4. Add the honey mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with your hands until all the oats are evenly coated.  Transfer wet granola evenly on to two large cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
  5. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven and allow granola to completely cool before serving.  Don’t worry if the granola doesn’t seem super crunchy after coming out of the oven.  It will crisp up once completely cooled. Keeps in a tightly fastened container in a cool, dry place for a few weeks.
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