Both making and eating granola makes me feel like I have my life together.
I know there are negative connotations around those who make their own granola – it conjures images of meditation circles, hemp and constantly having a muslin cloth with some dripping homemade labneh hanging over your sink faucet.
I promise you can have homemade granola without any of the stereotypes that are hinged on to it and feign to yourself that you are organised. It’s the culinary equivalent of fluffing your pillows and straightening the magazines on your coffee table before a guest arrives.
There is a calmness to knowing breakfast is already sorted and sitting in a big jar for you. It means your morning can be free for other productive things, like lie ins. But that’s where your oven can be your best friend, meaning a quick potter on one evening can reward you with countless lie ins where you don’t have to stare into the fridge looking for an answer.
The other beauty in homemade granola is that you can scale up and swap out as you see fit for your own pantry. So long as you’re baking some flavoured oats in a low oven, you’ve got granola so don’t stress out with measurements.
This particular recipe has a nice Jaffa Cake style feel to them with the combination of orange and chocolate, but I do also like a crunch to my granola so will always try and include some nuts when and where I can. I will however, always use some olive oil in my granola. I find that not only does it assist with the toastiness of the oats in the oven, but it provides a welcome fruit foil to each snatched handful, so that it’s not as tooth whimperingly sweet as some shop bought varieties.
I like mine scattered over some coconut yogurt anointed with nothing more than a few banana slices, but it is also good just with a bowl and a splash of milk.
300g jumbo oats
70g salted peanuts
70g pumpkin seeds
70g sunflower seeds
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cocoa
1 orange
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon orange marmalade
50g dark chocolate
- Preheat the oven to 150°C and line a large baking tray.
- Tip the oats, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.
- Scatter in the salt, cinnamon and cocoa and using your hands, just toss the oats and seeds up so that the spices and salt evenly distribute through.
- Grate the zest of the orange into the bowl and cut the orange in half, squeezing the juice into a jug.
- To this jug, pour in the olive oil until it hits the 100ml mark and add the honey and marmalade. Use a fork to stir the jug’s ingredients together, breaking up the marmalade as best as you can.
- Pour this mix over your oats, seeds and nuts and using a spoon, stir everything together so that the oats are thoroughly coated.
- Empty the coated oat mix onto the lined baking tray and using a spoon, spread it out into a thin, even layer.
- Slip the tray into the oven for 50 minutes but at the 20 minute mark, take the tray out and using a spoon or fork, toss the granola up a little.
- After the 50 minutes are up, take the tray out of the oven and allow to rest to one side until completely cool.
- Once cool, chop your chocolate up as finely as you can be bothered and then scatter over the granola. Toss the chocolate up amongst the oats before storing in a sealed jar until you need it.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 