Homemade Granola - Crunchy and wholesome

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This homemade granola is a wholesome and crunchy recipe made with a few simple whole food plant-based ingredients.

It is the perfect make-ahead breakfast and snack food to eat with yogurt and fresh fruit.

Jump to:

• What is homemade granola?
• Ingredients & Substitutions
• How to make homemade granola
• Storage
• Recipe

What is homemade granola?

I love everything about granola. I love the crunch, the nuttiness, the flavor of toasted oats, and the fact that you can eat it at any time, from dawn to, well, late at night.

The only problem is that at least where I live it's quite difficult to find a granola that is actually good for you, without added sugars and oils.

And so we made our homemade one, inspired by Sadia from PickUp limes, but with a few modifications.

From this homemade granola, you can expect a wholesome recipe without any added refined sugars or oils. All ingredients are whole foods and plant-based.

Ours is a basic recipe that you can customize based on your personal tastes.

Watch a quick video of how to make homemade granola here.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Dates: we use dates as natural sweetener. If you have it at hand you can also use date paste, like we often do. If you don't fancy dates, then dried prunes are a good substitute.
  
• Nut butter: you can use any nut butter. We like to use a homemade nut butter made with 50% peanuts and 50% almonds.
  
• Cinnamon: add more or less based on your tastes. If it's close to winter holiday you can also add other spice like ginger, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, cloves, etc.
  
• Salt: it really helps lift the flavour of the other ingredients.
  
• Rolled oats: somtimes known as old fashioned oats.
  
• Nuts: you can pick your favourite nuts. We like to use hazelnuts and walnuts.
  
• Seeds: you can add your favourite seeds. We often use pumpking and sunflower seeds.
  
• Dried fruit: this is optional, however you could add coconut flakes, raisins, dried apple pieces, dried banana pieces, etc. We did not add any fruit in our homemade granola.

How to make homemade granola

Preheat the oven to 300F or 150C.

Blend the pitted dates till you have a smooth date paste. 1 cup of pitted dates should yield around ½ cup of date paste. If you use a scale everything is easier, you just need 150 grams of dates.

If your dates are dry, soak them in hot, almost boiling water, for 10 minutes, then blend them with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the soaking water.

Tip: We like to prepare a jar of date paste in advance and keep it handy. It keeps for 3 months in the refrigerator.

Then in a bowl mix ½ cup (150 grams) of date paste, (⅓ cup) 100 grams of almond or peanut butter, two teaspoons of cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Mix till incorporated.

Then add ½ cup (80 grams) of hazelnuts and ¾ cup (80 grams) of chopped walnuts, and 2 cups (220 grams) of oatmeal.

When I make granola I stop here, but if you want you can add raisins, mixed seeds, chopped cranberries, desiccated coconut, to make the granola even richer.

Mix with a spatula until the mixture is smooth, then transfer it to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spread it well all over the baking sheet.

Now we put it in the oven at 300F or 150 degrees for 15 minutes, then we take it out, give a stir to break up the granola, and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes until it becomes nice and toasty brown.

Remove from the oven and let it cool for at least fifteen minutes, keeping in mind that once cold, the granola will be even crispier.

Now break up the larger pieces with your hands and transfer the granola in a container, preferably airtight, to store it for several weeks.

This recipe is perfect for breakfast, or for a snack, for example together with a plant-based yogurt, a teaspoon of chia seeds, a teaspoon of flax seeds, fresh fruit, and maybe even maple or agave syrup.

Storage

Store in an airtight container for a few weeks. Not suitable for freezing.

Recipe

If you liked this recipe you might also like:

• Easy oat cookies with raisins
• Muffins with oat flour
• Birchermüesli aka overnight oats with apple and almonds
• Granola recipe

Did you try this recipe at home? Let us know in the comments below!

Buon appetito.

Nico