Homemade granola is easy to make and an excellent option to keep on hand for quick breakfasts (or snacking!) You can serve it with milk or yogurt, or even bag some up to keep on hand in your office.
Below is a recipe for peanut butter and honey granola from the website The Kitchn, with an adjustment for baking time. I found that the granola takes much less time to bake than called for in the original recipe.
Please note that this recipe has lots of peanuts in it via peanut butter and roasted peanuts! If you or someone else who might be eating the granola has an allergy, you’ll want to look to other recipes.
This recipe produces about eight cups of granola. It’s very flexible; you can halve it easily, as well as leave out a few items if you don’t have them on hand, such as the wheat germ, raw pumpkin seeds, and dried dates. Feel free to sub in quick cooking oats or light brown sugar if needed.
The recipe is also convenient. You can keep all these ingredients on hand in your pantry with no worries for spoilage (but be sure to keep the wheat germ in the freezer). And for ultimate convenience, you can even order some of the ingredients online. I’ve linked to those where appropriate. A large bag of pumpkin seeds or a big jar of wheat germ might seem costly at first, but when you use that one purchase to make four or more batches of granola, the cost savings over store-bought granola can be significant.
Finally, you can also dress it up a bit with chocolate chips once it’s cooled. Of course, then it’s more dessert than breakfast, but that’s not a bad thing.
Peanut Butter and Honey Granola
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups shelled roasted peanuts
1 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
1 cup wheat germ
1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup vegetable or olive oil
3/4 cup chopped dried dates
Heat the oven to 325°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine oats, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.
In a small saucepan, mix the honey and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Pour over the oat mixture. Pour in the oil, and stir thoroughly. The mixture will be chunky and rough.
Spread the oat mixture evenly on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring twice while baking. Transfer the granola to a large bowl and add the dates, tossing to combine.
Store in an airtight container.
[Photo by Heather M. Whitney, used by permission]
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2 Responses to What’s for Breakfast? Granola!
heatherwhitney - September 27, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I realize the links were somehow lost; I’ll update those in a bit.
kfoxt11 - October 2, 2010 at 7:37 am
Aaah, I like this post.I used to make granola all the time using this recipe from the Food Network’s Alton Brown (I improvised):http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-bars-recipe/index.htmlThanks for the reminder that I need to get back into the habit of making granola. Here’s a blog post I wrote on making the granola:http://radiogirlradiogirl.blogspot.com/2008/10/granola-bars-yummy.htmlSo much fun and a break from grading and prepping for class.