Homemade Maple Cinnamon Granola
Happy 2014! Have you recovered from the holidays? I hope your new year is off to a good start. It’s been nice to have a few weeks of normal around here. No travel. No big plans. Just the Honey and the pup. Time for long field walks in the fleeting light of late afternoon. Winter days made warmer with the oven running as I tinker about in the kitchen, playing with old recipes and working on new ones.
I’m resolute to make more pantry staples from scratch, and homemade granola is the first subject I’ve tackled. I’ve been baking up big batches of it on the weekend, which keeps us stocked throughout the week for quick and comforting breakfasts on dark and early mornings.
The recipe as written below is for a maple cinnamon-spiced granola, but think of it as a simple granola framework, or general set of guidelines, and feel free to substitute your favorite sweeteners, nuts, and spices. The ratios work pretty well with a number of flavor combinations. I’m partial to this maple cinnamon number atop a big bowl of greek yogurt with banana slices and fresh berries, but it’s also pretty great straight from the jar…
Homemade Maple Cinnamon Granola
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 55 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: About 7 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 5 cups rolled (old-fashioned) oats
- 1–1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp (packed) light brown sugar
- 1–1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp fine grain sea salt
- 5 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- optional: 2 cups dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries, apricots etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 325 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, coconut flakes, and chopped nuts, and stir until well-mixed.
- In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients except for the dried fruit (if using), until well-combined. Drizzle over the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until the entire mixture is evenly coated. Pour the granola onto the sheet pan, and spread into an even layer. Use the back of a spatula to press the granola down firmly into the pan.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the top is golden brown and slightly toasted. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a baking sheet for about an hour. When the granola has cooled, break it into chunks. Stir together with the dried fruit, if using. Store in an airtight container for up to a week. Serve with yogurt and berries or munch on as a snack!
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( Maybe it’s only been since January? Is that possible?! This long winter is getting to me! )
I know! I can’t believe it’s already March tomorrow!
I’ve made this recipe every week since I found it about 2 months ago! My kids & I love it. We use coconut oil, and pecans & almonds. So good! Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Hi, Cheryce! I’m so glad to hear you love it as much as we do! I’ve also been making it just about every week since I posted the recipe… 🙂
Looks very appetizing, Laura! Question for you…I have two sons who are extremely to most nuts. Any ideas of something to substitute for the nuts to keep the granola bulky? One will eat dried fruit mixed in, but the other is really a white bread kind of guy. Suggestions?
Thanks!
extremely Allergic to nuts (duh!)
Hi Suzanne! If it were me, I would simply omit the nuts, and continue with the rest of recipe as is, or substitute in an extra 1/2 cup of the shredded coconut. Can they eat seeds? You could try pumpkin or sunflower seeds… Or even go with sesame seeds (and maybe then sub. in some sesame oil for the canola oil). You could also add in some extra dried fruit at the end (maybe a combo), or for a more indulgent granola, add some mini chocolate or peanut butter chips along with the dried fruit.
The nuts are traditional in granola – but I think function more as a taste/textural thing, so switching it up should still be yummy. Honestly, I tend to make granola with whatever happens to be in the pantry, so the combination of nuts/fruit/sweeteners changes constantly. Let me know what you end up doing! 🙂
Looks absolutely amazing.. love your photography!!
Thank you so much, Hari!
I’ve been on the homemade granola kick in the past, too, I should do it again. I came up with a recipe I like using dates for the sweetener and walnut butter instead of oil to stick it together. Granola is one of those things that you hate to pay so much for at the store knowing how inexpensive the ingredients are. But look at yours, with hazelnut and macadamia and maybe lots of dried fruit, too, really great ingredients!
How did you use the dates? I tried one batch with finely chopped dates to sweeten things up but they got pretty dry and chewy during baking. I love using them in smoothies as a sweetener… I love your walnut butter idea. I was thinking about an almond butter granola maybe too. 🙂
I love homemade granola, but find myself never actually making it. This variation looks delicious, and gorgeous pictures as always. 🙂
Thanks Nicole! I’ve been the same way! I always end up buying (relatively) expensive granola at the store and then thinking I should just make my own. It’s seriously been on my baking to-do list for way too long…
– Please let me know if you are having a March wosrkhop. I’m in Texas but have a ton of family and friends I’d like to visit in Scottsdale as well. It would be a great combined trip!