Homemade Granola!

When I was living in Southwest China, I was sick like two-thirds of the time.  Between bacteria and spices, my stomach was almost always unhappy in some way.  Breakfasts of granola and yogurt turned out to be a small sort of savior.  I figured out how to make my own granola out of ingredients I could find in Chinese markets.  My oven was literally about nine inches wide, so instead of toasting the granola in the oven, I used a large wok (frying pan).  

After returning to the States, I had to tweak my “recipe” a little, but I have continued to enjoy this breakfast just about every day.  In fact, I love it so much, and eat it so often, that I sometimes get miffed when I have to meet someone for bagels or go to a diner for breakfast. 

I always used brown sugar and honey to make my granola.  But when I decided to give up refined sugars, I considered using molasses in some way.  Everything I read about molasses is positive – it’s high in nutrients, and is a great natural, raw sweetener.  Brown sugar is considered by many to be unrefined, but I thought I’d try my granola "molasses style" to see if I could make this tasty, healthy breakfast any tastier and healthier. 

 

Granola is very easily tweaked, so go nuts changing around the proportions and ingredients. 

Molasses Granola:

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup honey

2 lb rolled oats

1 – 3 cups of various nuts, dried fruit, seeds to suit your fancy. 

(I like to use raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds, and raw slivered almonds.  I avoid using dried fruit simply because I don’t like the chewiness mixed in with the crunchiness.  You can always add dried or fresh fruit when you eat it anyway.)

Put the oil, molasses and honey in a large frying pan / wok.  Heat on medium to high heat until it starts getting a little bubbly. 

Add oats and stir until coated.  Lower heat to the lowest possible.

Add nuts, seeds, etc, and continue to stir the mixture for about 20 – 30 minutes.  It’s important to keep the granola moving in the pan to allow everything equal access to the heat and to avoid burning.  This is tedious.  The closer you get to 30 minutes, the toastier and crispier your granola will be.  (I usually quit after 20 to 25 minutes, because this is a super painful process for my back.)

Remove from heat and let cool – stirring every 5 or 10 minutes so it doesn’t all harden together.  Transfer into pretty airtight containers (glass jars, zipper bags, or a resealable container).  All of the ingredients have a long shelf life, so this stuff keeps for a long time. 

Serve with milk or yogurt.  (I like to eat mine with my homemade yogurt which is quite tangy and goes really well with the sweetness of the granola.)

Non-Molasses Version:

My original recipe contained

2/3 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 lb oats

1 – 3 cups of various nuts, dried fruit, and/or seeds.