Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Granola

March SOLC

I have my grandmother's granola recipe. I love this recipe as it has a basic 'base' recipe and then you can modify it anyway that works for you. I remember helping her make this when I was a child. In addition to spending special time with her I loved the warm clusters, fresh out of the oven, the best. I would 'goodie pick' all the chunks (and she let me!) I don't ever remember eating it as cereal, just standing over the pan in the kitchen and enjoying the special snack we had made.

small_3335498091_granola

When I was married my mom gave me a recipe box. One of the recipes was Mater's granola. I hadn't made it since I was a child. At some point I decided that I would make my own cereal, particularly after moving overseas and cereal was $10 or more a box. So now I make granola weekly. It does have to be modified depending on where we live and what is available. (For example, I can't get yeast flakes here so I leave them out.) I also have changed the recipe depending on how I was eating it. For a long chunk of time I ate it with yogurt. During that phase I would add powdered milk. Right now I am eating it with milk therefore I find the powdered milk to be too much.

So, here is what is in the oven right now…

3 cups old fashioned oats
    
(Often hard to find overseas and when you can find it, you pay for it.)
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup honey
     (The original calls for 1/2 cup raw sugar. I switched to honey years ago and have diminished the amount over time. I now find any more than this to be too sweet for me.)
3/4 cup raisins
     (Usually yellow as they are easiest to find here.)
1/2 chopped almonds
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water

Mix it all together. Bake (I use my baking stone bar pan) at the lowest temperature I can get my oven (remember it is in Celsius - I think with a Fahrenheit oven I baked it at 200) for about an hour, stirring every 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

6 comments:

  1. Oh, this is so cool! I can't wait to try this. You can share this with generations to come! What a wonderful slice! Yum! Happy Slicing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh, I remember making bread and homemade cole slaw with my Grandma! I recently saw a picture (maybe on Pinterest) of old recipes from a grandparent framed and hung in a kitchen. This reminded me of both! I miss cooking with Grandma. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm surprised you got a real recipe! My grandmother would use hands and pinches to make most things. She couldn't give me a recipe, so I had to just watch and try to guess how much of what went in! The good thing about the granola is - you can use what you can find and substitute ingredients, like you have had to. Yummy sounding. I may have to make up a batch.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have been wondering for years (yet never looked online) what people do to make their own granola. I'm excited to try your grandma's recipe! Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This sounds great! I want to try it too. Isn't it funny what ingredients are costly and readily available. Golden raisins are not as common as the dark ones and oatmeal is relatively cheap. Thanks for the recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Granola is seriously one of my favorite things to eat. I just had a cup of vanilla yogurt and was wishing I had some granola. It's not as easy to find here, and if I do, it's overpriced. I've never made granola, but you are inspiring me to try, possibly this summer when I'm home! :)
    jee young

    ReplyDelete