No « short and unsweetened » blog of mine would be complete without my Granola recipe. It is what I eat every morning, so I cook it in large batches and keep it in the fridge. I’ve developed an unsweetened super healthy version so I can either add the sweet stuff knowingly and sparsely, or have a salty type of snack anytime of the day. I make tons of variations on the theme depending on my whims and intended flavours or on the goodies (nuts, grains or dried fruits; the adult version of marshmellows in the bowl of cereal) available. Here is the basic recipe to which I sometimes adjust the quantity of liquids if it’s too dry. I strongly recommend getting silicon baking mats for this recipe and many others to reduce the fat content and spare time on the scrapping of dirty pans. Have fun playing mix-and-match with all the add ons you wish, as I will only list the ones I use frequently. Over time, I find that the best ratio for these is no more than 3 types of nuts or seeds and 2 types of dried fruits. More than this and it doesn’t really feel like your eating granolas…

Ingredients for a batch of approximately 12 cups of granolas:

• 1/3 cup olive oil, preferably extra virgin cold pressed one;

• 3 to 4 eggs depending on their size;

• A total of 4 tbls. Mixed spices among cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg to your taste;

• 2 tbls. Vanilla extract;

• 2 tsp. Salt;

• About three cups of mixed nuts and seeds among almonds, pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, hazelnuts;

• 8 cups of rolled oats ( the coarser the better because of fibber content );

Extra ingredients added in each servings for versatility and measured sugar content: 

• Dried fruits to taste among raisins, cranberries, apricots, dates and/or homemade “veggifruit” ( see previous post );

• Chia seeds ( I don’t put them in the mix to be baked because they tend to stick to the pan and most of it gets washed away, which is a total waste of perfectly edible food).

Instructions:

- Mix the oil, spices, salt and eggs together in a very large bowl.

- Add the nuts and stir.

- Add the oats and give it a final mix.

- Spread as evenly as possible on 2 baking trays lined with either slicon mats or parchment paper.

- Bake in the oven at 350 F for 30 minutes, giving it a stir in between each 10 minutes.

- take out and let cool before you refrigerate.