Homemade Granola

When I go for my weekly shopping at the Tescos or Waitrose, I spend atleast 4-5 minutes in the Cereal aisle. I love to see and read those different varieties and colourful packages of corn flakes, bran flakes, weetabix, cheerios, different flavoured oats, muesli etc. Out of these, Granola always stood out. This luxury cereal always grabbed my attention. By the look of those golden honey roasted oats, mixed with nuts and berries of different combination, my mind imagines a bowl, spoon and a dollop of greek yoghurt and me having Granola in some island in Greece. (the luxury advertisements influence my thoughts)!! :P

So the love for granola made me look for a homemade version of it and 'BBC food' helped me come out with this one. The entire process of mixing the rolled oats in maple syrup and honey and later roasting it with the mixed nuts and berries was indeed therapeutic. I have made a tin full of granola and safely stored in an air-tight container. It should suffice for at least 2 weeks.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp cooking oil
8 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g rolled oats
50g sunflower seeds
4 tbsp sesame seeds
50g pumpkin seeds
100g flaked almonds
100g dried berries (I added blueberries, raisins and cranberries)
50g coconuts flakes or desiccated coconut (optional)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 150C. Mix the oil, maple syrup, honey and vanilla in a large bowl. Tip in all the remaining ingredients, except the dried fruit and coconut, and mix well.

2. Tip the granola onto two baking sheets and spread evenly. Bake for 15 mins, then mix in the coconut and dried fruit, and bake for 10-15 mins more. Remove and scrape onto a flat tray to cool. Serve with cold milk or yogurt. The granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month.

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