Processing: Oven (60-70 minutes)Storage: Cupboard (3 weeks)
Refrigerator (4+ weeks)
Freezer (3 months)
Yield: 7 cups per batch
Your family will love having a jar of granola on the bench all year long! Enjoy as a quick snack straight from the jar, add some milk for breakfast – or sprinkle on some homemade yoghurt. Granola is also great made into granola bars or used in baked goods! This granola flavour version was created by my 5 year old daughter Katie-Anne and her two school friends.
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup (or light corn syrup and a little molasses)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups wholegrain rolled oats
1 cup diced dried apricots
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 cup small dark choc chips
Pre-heat oven, line tray.
The secret to making homemade toasted muesli is baking it LOW AND SLOW - pre-heat your oven to 275'F (135'C) and line two baking trays so the granola will not stick to the tray.
Combine wet ingredients.
Whisk the sugar, syrup and water together in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking every few minutes while the sugar dissolves. Add the salt, whisking until combined. Allow to cool enough to touch (usually cool enough by the time you've chopped up the dried fruit.
Stir warm liquid into rolled oats. Add other ingredients.
Combine the rolled oats and the syrup in a large mixing bowl, using fingertips to evenly distribute throughout. Stir through the apricots and coconut until mixed through.
Pour mixture onto prepared trays.
Spread mixture evenly onto the lined baking trays, don't press down as we want to break the granola up as it cooks. Bake for 60-70 minutes at 275'F (135'C) or until golden, checking every 15 minutes and stirring the mixture to break up any large clumps. The granola will be soft from the oven but harden whilst cooling, so watch the colour change to golden to check when it is ready to come out of the oven.
Cool granola.
Leave to rest in the tray after baking for about 10 minutes, then put onto a big platter or dish to cool overnight whilst covered with a tea towel or plastic wrap (or a big food net if you like). You can stir through the chocolate chips after the granola is only a little warm (so they don't melt all the way through). I also heated my jars after baking and rested those (covered) overnight so they were dry and clean for use the next day to store the granola in.
Place granola into jars.
Scoop your dry toasted muesli into your clean, dry jars and cover with a clean lid. You can store this in the pantry for a few weeks, or refrigerate for a month or more, or freeze if you’ve made a few months’ worth of granola!
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| The girls' decorated their bags of granola to take home :) |