Ingredients (all measurements are -ish)
6 cups of rolled oats
¼ cup flax meal (optional)
1 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips
½ cup of peanut butter (crunchy or creamy) – or almond butter (or other nut butter)
¼ cup honey (or maple syrup or a bit of both)
2 - 4 tbs of peanut oil (optional- makes it more crunchy)
Splash of vanilla
2 tsp sea salt (or Kosher salt for a bit of a crunch)
Cinnamon (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 325oF
Dry roast the oats and grains
Spread the oats and any additional grains evenly on a cookie sheet. They should be no more than 1 inch thick. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes- stirring at 5 minutes to ensure even toasting. Don’t over brown your grains as they will become bitter.
Prepare the liquids
Place the peanut butter and honey into a microwave safe bowl and warm on high for 1 minute. Transfer to a big mixing bowl and add the vanilla, salt, and oil. Mix well.
Put it all together
Add the oats (and nuts if adding) mixture to the mixing bowl of liquids and stir well. Ensure all the grains are evenly coated with the liquids. Stir in the chocolate chips at the very end.
The final bake
Spread the granola mixture onto a cookie sheet- use two if it is too thick (no more than an ½-1 inch thick). Bake at 325 for 15 minutes- stirring at least every 5 minutes. The edges will cook faster than the middle- so stir often.
Cooling (it’s ok to eat the granola hot!)
Leave the granola on the cookie sheet to cool. Let the granola cool completely before putting into a storage container – this will keep it crisp and dry. Store in a airtight container at room temperature.
Serving:
Eat the granola by the handful, add it to fresh berries and yogurt or enjoy it with milk.
Variations:
The additions are limitless - I recommend that you experiment - try adding different spices, nuts or sweetners. Add texture such as dried coconut. The options are limitless - below are some common additions.
Additional grains: add any grains (1/4 cup) to mix up the texture. I often add Bob’s Red Mill 9-grain cereal, ground almond flour (ups protein content), wheat germ.
Nuts- any kind raw- dry roast the nuts (same method as toasting the grains), mix into the granola before baking. I love to add walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds and hazelnuts - yes, all of these!
Sweeteners:
Substitute (or add) for honey– maple syrup, agave syrup or other simple syrup. Can also use malt extract or molasses for unique flavor profile. You can also make the recipe without added sugar. Try it!
Dried fruit- mix into the granola after it has cooled.
Basic Nutrition:
Serving size: ¼ cup Servings per recipe: 28
Per serving: 145.15 kcal
Fat (gm): 6 % kcals from fat: 36
Pro (gm): 4 % kcals from protein: 11
Carb (gm): 20 % kcals from carbohydrate: 53