Healthy Homemade Granola

The end of August and start of September has a particular smell to me, the smell of “back to school”. I spend most of my summer holidays with my family in France, and as I come back to the city – I smell the end of vacation.

To rejoice the end of such wonderful carefree time, I like to start my days fresh, with a delicious breakfast. Most often that is a good granola bowl with almond milk or yogurt.

I will continue explaining this over the course of my blog journey; I am mostly sugar averse. Especially added sugar – in most of its forms. Therefore, when trying to find granola over muesli (because I like the added crunch), I find it borderline impossible to find some without at least 15-20% added sugar. On the other hand, granola can only be good with some sweetness. The key is to find the right balance.

Instead of giving up on the ideal granola, I decided to produce it myself:

To reduce the excess sugar I decided I would alter two factors most granolas fail in:

no syrup/maple syrup/honey/ ect… to clump the goods together
No dried fruits (AKA concentrated sugar)

Instead I use my applesauce (my recipe yields the perfect amount for my granola) as the coagulation agent. I also personally don’t add dried fruits, but you can add some or chocolate chips – in moderation (the amount I use is low in comparison to others on market).

I hereby invite you to try my granola:

Brother score: 8/10

Recipe for Healthy Homemade Granola (917g)

Ingredients:

200g almonds
125g walnuts
500g oats
60g mixed seeds (I used sunflower and pumpkin)
8 tsp ground flax seeds
370g unsweetened applesauce (my recipe)
2 tsp coconut oil
Salt
Optional: 1/2 cup dried fruit of your choice or chocolate chips (cacao nibs could be a delicious substitute)

Sugar: 6.2%*

Place the almonds and walnuts in a large, lined baking tray – I always line it with a baker’s silicon sheet, but you can line it with baking paper equally well – and roast at 200-220 °C (395-430 °F) for 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown and your kitchen smells deliciously nutty. After they have cooled put in a mortar and pestle to crush slightly. You will want your nuts halved or quartered.

In a large bowl place your oats, seeds and ground flax seeds -I have experimented a little, and came to realize that ground flax seeds are twice the amount of whole seeds. Then add in your crushed nuts, add in all the dust that will be at the bottom of the mortar and pestle, this will give your granola more taste. Lastly add a pinch of flaky sea salt.

In another bowl, mix your wet ingredients. Melt your coconut oil slightly in the microwave – or if you just made my applesauce and it is still warm you can add it directly in, the heat of the applesauce will melt your oil.

Then, add your wets to your dry, and mix until all you’re the oats are coated.

Place your mixture on the same large baking sheet. Spread the mixture so that it is about 1.5 – 2cm thick (It will reduce slightly as the moisture evaporates). Put in your over at 150°C (305°F) for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to make sure the whole batch is even.

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