Every time I make my breakfast, I find myself singing My Sharona, (with head banging bits)… I love the Knack, but it isn’t that. Is it the beat? The haircuts?
It is, of course, down to my latest favourite breakfast: granola. I had never eaten granola until Rachel (@ladytubedriver ) at my Slimming World group asked me if I could try to make something that would work within our Slimming World diet requirements. So with nothing but a rough idea of what granola was, I worked through Google and set about removing the oil and sugar to make a lowfat version.
It was… ok… it needed much longer baking than I gave it, and went stale and soft rather quickly. It was back to the drawing board.
Camilla at Rude Health warned me that it was very hard to make lowfat granola. It is intrinsically high fat. But I was determined to at least give it a try. To help me to work out what was so delicious about granola Camilla also sent me a sample (sample? hey, she is a generous lady, I received a fullsized pack, thanks again Camilla) to try out.
I worked my way through that packet in double quick time. Waitrose hadn’t started to stock Rude Health Granola at that time, but I needed more granola, so I tried out Dorset Cereals Honey Granola.
Both of these granolas were much better than mine had been, and raised the standard I wanted to achieve.
I decided that I liked both equally. Both these granolas are packed out with seeds and nuts, not very sweet, no raisins or dried fruit, and crunchy without being hard. Back to my drawing board with a much better idea of what I was aiming for.
Leafing through my Nigella Feast one day, I came across her recipe for Andy’s Fairfield Granola.. This sounded the business. But still very sweet by the sound of things. Could I cut the sugars down and perhaps the oil and still get good, golden granola?
Oh. Yes.
M-M-My Granola is like Goldilock’s porridge. Just. Right.
What I have also discovered is that good granola is very much a personal thing. You may like more oaty goodness. You may like more nutty nuggets. You may even (god forbid..) like it sweeter. But this is how I like my granola, and why I get through a shedload of it each week.
You need two groups of ingredients, the dry cereal itself, and the “glue” to stick it together into crunchy lumps.
For group one I like a rough ratio of:
50% by weight grain flakes : I use jumbo oats, porridge oats and fine oatmeal in whatever proportion I fancy, or have hanging about in the cupboard. You could also add any other grain flakes you like the sound of.
25% by weight seeds: linseed, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame are all seeds I have in the cupboard so I just mix up whatever takes my fancy.
25% by weight nuts: Almonds. hazelnuts, pecans are a must, but you could use any nuts you like.
So ingredients for my usual batch are:
Group 1:
600g grain flakes
300g seeds
300g nutsGroup 2:
1 tbs oil – any flavourless oil is fine, I use grapenut
2 tbs sweetener – you can use honey, agave or date syrup, or I have happily used marmalade
2 tbs apple sauce – either home made apple sauce or bought (I use Sainsbury’s Bramley Apple sauce)
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
half tsp saltChop the nuts up somewhat (I use a mini food processor, I have also used a mortar and pestle which worked fine), add to the grains and seeds in a medium size bowl. Mix well.
In a small saucepan mix the Group 2 ingredients, warm until they can easily be combined. Tip into the dry mix in the bowl, and thoroughly combine.
Tip the granola mix out onto a baking tray, spread out roughly, don’t break the lumps too much, you want them to stay stuck together. Bake at Gas Mk 3 for between 40 mins and an hour, raking through from time to time so that it browns evenly. You are looking for a deep golden colour – it will still be soft, as it crisps up as it cools. Allow to cool, and keep in an airtight container.
(For Slimming World converts, 1 oz, 28 grams, which is approx a level one third measuring spoon has 7 syns. If you can stop at one ounce in a day, you are a better man than I am, Gunga Din.)
That sounds brilliant – I’m intrigued by the inclusion of apple sauce! I had my first bowl of rude health muesli this morning but found it a bit boring so I reckon it’s time I made my own granola again.
Fruit purees are good subs for oils to reduce the fat content, which is high already because of all the nuts and seeds. Hurry up and make your own granola, or at the very least tell me what you are putting into it!
That’s very disappointing re the C&C cereal.
Considering how critical Ruth Watson is as The Hotel Inspector I’m very surprised!
I think it is probably more to do with what you expect from a granola.. maybe she tried the hefty type and her customers didn’t like it?
At least her new chef doesn’t put vinegar in the water for his poached eggs!
The C&C is such a well run place, it is hard to fault it for more then really little picky things.
Oooo that sounds gorgeous!
you should make it for the grownups Wendy, I think the children might find it too large and lumpy and not sweet enough. You could try chopping the nuts and seeds finer though, and adding a bit more honey for them.
Having been lucky enough to be gifted a sample of Grredy Piglet’s homemade granola I can tell you its very good and in a blind taste you wouldn’t know its much lower fat that the commercial offerings (which have a frankly frightening fat content near 25%). I’d recommend you try making your own version with the piglets recipe :))
Thanks Linda, I’m glad you liked it.. when I make the next marmalade one, I shall get you to let me know what you think of that one, it has a lovely bitter twang that I really like.
As far as the fat content is concerned, it is hard to know what the overall fat content of mine would be without subjecting it to a proper analysis. The nuts and seeds have a high fat content, so it isn’t just the added oils that make commercial granola high. I am happy though as I know that it is all good unsaturated fats I am eating, not hydrogenated transfatty stuff.
That looks wonderful Lynne. There’s nothing like home made cereal is there? Even the posh ones don’t have enough fruit and nuts do they? AND they’re really expensive.
They don’t have anywhere near enough nuts, although I have to say that the two good ones I tried (Rude Health and Dorset Cereals) were much better than most. We stayed at the Crown and Castle last week, and their granola was just oats. Nothing else, just oats bound together with some sweetener and oil. I would NOT have wanted to eat a whole bowlful. I wasn’t sure whether to say anything, but I thought it might just be that I am so fussy.
As far as fruit is concerned, because I have my granola sprinkled over yoghurt on fresh fruit salad, I don’t like any dried fruit in it. But at least with home made you can add whatever you like.
And as for price, well… I can understand why the premium brands are expensive to be honest. Made like this, this is NOT a cheap option although it is obviously cheaper than off the shelf. But you get what you pay for in this life, don’t you?