Thursday 24 February 2011

Granola mamma

One day last week, I ran out of breakfast cereal. I'd got into the habit of eating this famous 'healthy' cereal because, well, it was on offer. And yeah, I'm a little bit of a cheap skate some times. Anyway, the offer is no longer on, and I didn't care for it so much that I was willing to pay full price for it. And then, there was a spark. So many times I'd told myself I should make some homemade granola. I've been inspired by lots of you doing just that in the past, and I thought, this is it! This is my granola making chance! So I grabbed it with both hands, checked out plenty of your recipes online, bought a couple of things and had a look at my kitchen cupboards. This is what I came up with (ie, truly a cupboard emptying effort).


Ingredients:

  • 300g porridge oats
  • 100g barley flakes
  • 100g rye flakes
  • 35g pumpkin and flax seeds
  • 35g linseeds
  • 40g poppy seeds
  • 75g walnuts
  • 110g dessicated coconut
  • 2tsp ground cinnamon
  • 50ml sunflower oil
  • 50ml honey
  • 50ml golden syrup
  • 1/2 tsp Maldon salt
  • 120g chopped dates
  • 120g sultanas

 Method:

  • Mix in the dry ingredients except the fruit and coconut
  • Add the honey, golden syrup and oil.
  • Spread out on a baking tray and bake at 140degrees C for 1 hour, stirring gently every 20min
  • Add the coconut for the last 10min of baking.
  • Leave to cool in the tray then mix in the fruit.
  • Store in an airtight container.


 My verdict? It's a little confused to be completely honest. It's good, but not great.

Good points:
  • nice texture
  • crunchy
  • I'd have it again (which is a bonus since I have a massive jar of this left)

Bad points:
  • cinnamon and coconut aren't the best of friends; it should really be one or the other
  • poppy seeds... what can i say, they're small, black and get in your teeth - not a good office look

Next time I will:
  • only use cinnamon, no coconut allowed
  • use less poppy seeds and up the amount of bigger seeds used
  • increase the amount of barley and rye flakes
  • use my largest roasting tin straight away instead of trying to get it all on a slippery baking sheet - it was never going to work was it?


Alternative ingredients list to keep it simple and leave the cupboard emptying effort to you:
  • 500g cereal
  • 150g seeds
  • 100g nuts
  • 250g dried fruit
  • ground spices/ vanilla essence, whatever floats your boat
  • 50ml oil
  • 100ml honey and/ or golden syrup
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Right, the bullet point fest is over for today!

11 comments:

Lizzy said...

One thing to remember is not to add the dried fruit until after you have baked it in the oven or you end up with a lovely cereal full of burnt raisens!!!! These then need to be picked out of your yoghurt and left on the table - hmmm.....

Petit Filoux said...

Thanks Lizzy, I'd read that in several places, so I made sure I remembered that bit!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip about the dried fruit. I probably wouldn't have thought about that! I finished our cereal last week and haven't got around to doing a Suma order so have been eating toast and the children's chocolate spread which is tasty but hardly a good start to the day. I might have a go at some home made granola this afternoon.
Gillie

PinkCatJo said...

Looks yum. Did it keep you full up? I like the little pots they sell in EAT but they're so expensive for what they are. Much better to make it yourself. x

Petit Filoux said...

Yeah it does keep me full up actually, which is really nice! That's one of my main issues with breakfast in general, a good one has to be filling really, and this one is spot on!

Clare said...

I make granola and it is one of the few things that I can eat a small amount of that keeps me full! I also use Maple Syrup sometimes as this brings a nice flavour too!
C
xx

Petit Filoux said...

Clare, I love the idea of using maple syrup, but it's just so expensive!!! I can never get myself to buy a bottle of it at £6, so golden syrup and honey it is for me!

Lucy in the Clouds said...

Good on you for trying this, but ... seeds etc are so expensive, is it actually any cheaper to make it yourself than buy the brand at full price? x

Petit Filoux said...

Lucy, to be completely honest, I don't know. Nice granola is super expensive (around £3-4?) and here, buying the barley and rye flakes was dead cheap, about £2, and there's lots leftover (I only used 100g of each and these are 500g packets). Everything else I already had. Things like oats and sultanas are dead cheap, and I bought a packet of dates for another recipe, I think that was 90p-ish and it definitely made it taste very special. Salt, cinnamon, oil, all very cheap. And then all that's left are honey/ golden syrup and nuts. The advantage with making your own is that you can bulk buy because you know you'll be using it again in the near future. So in conclusion, I haven't done a detailed analysis, but I reckon it does work out cheaper. And you can totally customize it! (You can do that on the internet with some companies, and that is definitely much more expensive!)

The Curious Cat said...

Let us know if the improved version works better when you make it! Like the idea of making your own - very healthy!!!

PS Loved the bit about poppy seeds...so embarrassing when you walk around all day with stuff in your teeth and no one tells you!!! xxx

Clare said...

Hi - ah yes forgot to say, I cheat a little on the Maple Syrup, as it is indeed VERY expensive. However, Lyles (of Golden Syrup fame) make a Maple Flavoured Syrup - it gives a nice subtle flavour but isn't so expensive. I find it not quite so sugary sweet than Golden in granola. (Tesco sell it)