Swah’s Granola

For once I have an almost healthy recipe for you *gasp*. Before you completely freak out, fear not – it tastes absolutely delicious!

I like the idea of granola but always find it either too sweet and buttery or full of almonds (you can hear me whinge about my allergy to almonds here). So of course I decided to make my own – and it was by far the best granola I have ever eaten. It’s amazing with milk, or sprinkled on top of yoghurt or snacked on as is.

It has just the right balance of fruits, nuts and grains and isn’t too sweet (and NO butter, just sunflower oil!) You can of course substitute whatever nut or dried fruit you wish to make your own perfect balance. There are quite a lot of ingredients but it’s worth the effort – this makes a huge batch of granola that can last for weeks in an airtight container.

Apologies for my un-ironed tablecloth!

Ingredients

4 cups rolled oats

1 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup dried cranberries

1 tsp ground cinammon

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable or sunflower oil

1/4 cup golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup water

Method

1. Preheat over to 150°C

2. Mix together oats, wheat germ, coconut, brown sugar, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, dried cranberries, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.

3. In a separate bowl whisk together the oil, honey, vanilla and water. Add to the dry mixture and stir until combined.

4. Spread the mixture out evenly in a large baking pan lined with grease proof paper.

5. Bake for approximately 1 hour until toasted and golden. Stir the mixture every 20 minutes so that everything gets evenly toasted. Once cool, store in an airtight container.