Winter Granola
I love granola, but nowhere near as much as my husband. I thought he loved granola more than anyone in the world…. and then our children came along! We are 100% a granola household. This recipe was created one freezing cold winters day last week when I was feeling a bit down about the cold and greyness of it all.
I created this to remind myself of all the wonderful smells and comforting things you can do at this time of year – plus, standing in front of the oven always warms me up! This recipe is super simple, my two-year-old chef-to-be adores making it with me, and it’s tasty – I’ve already made three batches.
Ingredients
- 250g/9oz oats
- 100g/4oz pecans
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 55g/2oz brown sugar
- 50g/2oz vegan butter
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil (or another vegetable oil)
- 140g/5oz dried cranberries
Method
- Heat the oven to 150C and line your baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Put all of your dry ingredients (except the cranberries) in a nice big mixing bowl.
- Melt the butter and add to the dry ingredients along with the oil and maple syrup, giving it all a good mix around ensuring that the oats and nuts are nicely coated.
- Spread the mixture out in a single layer on the baking sheet and cook for 30-40 minutes until golden and crunchy. I like to give it a stir halfway through.
- Once it has cooled you can add the dried cranberries before storing your granola in an air-tight box for a couple of weeks, though it doesn’t last anywhere near that long in our house!
One thing to note about this recipe (and apologies if this is an obvious statement) is that cooked nuts are very different to raw nuts; Summer has never been a fan of pecans and was a touch sceptical about this addition but a bit of open-mindedness meant that she tried it and learnt that she likes them cooked – what a result!
I hope you and your family love this granola, and that the winter blues aren’t getting you down!
Happy baking,
Livvy and Summer
