Thursday, January 27, 2011

Nutty Maple Granola

Granola, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. Let me also count what I do NOT love about store-bought granola:


-too sweet (so much sugar!)
-coconut (ick!)
-full of calories
-chemicals (high fructose corn syrup anyone?)
-not interesting enough


Good thing then, that my FAVORITE TV show chef/personality, Elie Krieger makes an awesome granola with some of my favorite things: nuts.


For once I did not adapt this recipe from hers (well, OK, I added extra nuts. I love nuts. Please do not read into that). I dare you to eat just one serving.


Ingredients:
Cooking Spray
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped raw, unsalted walnuts
1/2 cup chopped unsalted almonds
1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup (note: use REAL maple syrup, not the fake stuff. gross)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, optional


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. 
Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and the raisins, if using (side note: I usually add the raisins after I bake the granola if I'm using them)
Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally (mine only baked for about 20 minutes and I stirred every 5), about 30 minutes. 
Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. 
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Yum.

1 comment:

  1. Yay! A granola recipe that I can actually eat!!

    I can't eat honey and usually store granola brand that are actually healthy and interesting to eat use honey.

    Something you might want to consider:

    Instead of raisins, roughly chop up dried apricots and use that. I love dried apricots and they go well with just about any healthy food there is.

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