GRANOLA
I was at the Le Pain Quotidien on Römerhofplatz for brunch on Easter Monday, when I happened upon the “Homemade Organic Granola Parfait with mixed berries” (that’s granola, Greek yoghurt and a berry garnish to you and me). After my first bite, I suddenly remembered how much I loved the stuff and immediately wondered, “Why in the world had I not eaten it in such a long time?”
Actually, it had been about three years, and, unsurprisingly, coincided perfectly with the COVID years. Pre- COVID, I used to batch make it, eating it with homemade kefir and handing out jarfuls at Christmas to family and friends. But COVID had sucked the fun out of cooking and sharing, and, unfortunately, the habit went out of the window along with my patented recipe. So, lo and behold, when I got back from Le Pain, I decided to go back to the drawing board, and, finally, I am proud to say that not only have I come up with a great granola recipe, but, dare I say it, it might even be better than the last one. So, I am incredibly happy to be able to share it with you now.
The objective was to make something crunchy and indulgent with variations in texture, but also something somewhat healthy. Now granola has the reputation of being a bit of a health food. It conjures up images of slim people in their muted yoga pants, with their neon yoga mat, perched on high stools in cafés having bowls of granola with green juices and iced matcha oat lattes. But in reality, granola can be quite heavy on the calories, and not in a good way, with loads of sugar, cholesterol-unfriendly coconut oil and…sometimes even chocolate? So, in this recipe I tried to keep the fats and sugars down whilst still delivering on flavour and crunch. If you want, you can further reduce the sweet element by cutting out ¼ a cup of maple syrup, but then I would also recommend cutting the sunflower seed oil by ¼ a cup too and subsequently the amount of oats (leaving out 1 cup at max).
Consider this granola recipe as your base, to which you can add bits and bobs to make it your own. I am partial to a scattering of grated dried coconut (agreed…healthy — not so much) and then dolloping on some Greek yoghurt, a pile of blueberries and some randomly cut strawberries, but you can do what you like. Leave out the raisins. Add more raisins. Or even include cranberries for a Christmassy touch. The point is, it’s your granola, and not one out of a box, packed with God knows what. So, personalize it as you wish. And if you do want to add chocolate chunks to it (after the bake), do it! I won’t tell anyone. It’s all yours.
Ingredients
Note: I’m using cups here people!
5 cups rolled oats
2 cups sliced almonds
2/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup raisins
1.5 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup sunflower seed oil
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup maple syrup
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Method
1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.
2. Prepare two baking trays covered in foil and, on top, grease proof paper.
3. Mix well the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, raisins and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
4. Measure out your sunflower seed oil in your cup measure and add it to the mixing bowl. It is best to do the oil first, because it will make it easier to add the maple syrup after without having to scrape it out with a spoon.
5. Measure out and add the maple syrup in the same cup measure as that used for the oil and add the vanilla extract over the top of the maple syrup heap in the mixing bowl.
6. Mix all the ingredients really well with a spatula to ensure all the dry ingredients are covered in the oil, maple syrup and vanilla. I recommend a silicone spatula!
7. Spread the mixture out evenly onto the two baking trays. Pat down the mixture to ensure the mixture remains in contact with each other, like one big cookie. This is to encourage the formation of clumps. Bake in the middle of the oven.
Note: If you have space for only one tray in your oven or only have one baking tray, you can bake half of the mixture at a time. It’s completely fine to let the mixture sit out at room temperature for an hour before being baked.
8. Keep an eye on the granola. After 8–10 minutes in the oven, or once everything looks a deep golden brown, take the trays out and turn over the mixture so that you can colour the underside. This will be tricky to do, so there’s no need to be too precise. Just be sure to mix and flatten the mixture down again before putting the trays back in the oven. If baking two trays, you may want to switch the tray that was originally on the bottom to the top and vice versa.
9. Bake for a further 5 minutes or so. You may only need 3 minutes if you notice everything is already browning up nicely.
10. IMPORTANT STEP: Leave the trays to rest undisturbed for 45 minutes at least. This allows the mixture to form those characteristic clumps of granola. The more delicate you are with transferring the granola to your containers the larger your chunks will be.
11. Store in air-locked containers at room temperature for two to three weeks and enjoy with whatever you like!
