Homemade Granola

This sugar-free Homemade Granola was actually a cookie dough-gone-wrong creation! Crunchy, flavoursome, nutty oat clusters superb with a splash of milk. Sweetened naturally using just fruit, it’s much healthier than typical shop-bought granola. It also doesn’t crumble or come apart when in contact with milk, retaining that much needed crunch.

When my daily sugar craving hit me, I went along my merry way to the kitchen to make some simple cookie dough. I normally use almond flour or oat flour as a base – today I used oats. But, somewhere along the way, something went wrong and the dough became more a porridge consistency than a dough. What now?!

Well baking always adds a nice crust or hardness so that’s what I had to do – kind of wanted to avoid the baking hence the cookie dough and not the actually cookie, but ‘meh’. Sometimes these things happen and if an oven is the only thing that can deal with it, then so be it. Anyway, so to counteract the stickiness I just added a bit more oat flour so that the dough wasn’t too annoying to shape into balls then off it popped into the oven.

Questions about Homemade Granola

How to make Homemade Granola? To make Homemade Granola, you will need to add mashed banana to nut butter, whole oats, vanilla, dates or raisins and cinnamon. Combine with hands to form a dense dough-like texture. Fold in nuts of choice and shape into small balls. Bake for 15-20 minutes and allow to cool at room temperature.

Is granola good for you? Granola is very nourishing due to the wholefood ingredients it is composed of such as oats, nuts and fruit. These contain nutrients such as fibre, protein, starchy carbohydrates and a range of vitamins and minerals. However, it is not necessarily low in fat or calories. Shop-bought ones can also be quite high in sugar. This recipe does not contain any added sugar other than that naturally present in fruit.

How to make granola that doesn’t break apart? To make a granola that won’t fall apart easily when handled or combined with milk, it is best to try and make the mixture as dense or as compressed as possible when baking. Ensuring the mixture is sticky or wet before it is baked will also help it to keep in tact.

Homemade Granola Substitutions

For nut allergy sufferers, the nuts can be omitted or replaced with chocolate chips.

Chopped dates can be used instead of raisins or other chopped dried fruit.

Protein powder can also be added to bulk up protein content, by replacing an equal amount of oats.

This Homemade Granola is…

• Crunchy
• Nutty
• Sugar-free
• Breakfast
• Gluten-free
• Simple
• Vegan
• Plant-based

Homemade Granola Recipe

Serving size:

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients for Homemade Granola:

• 1 tbsp nut butter
• 120g oatmeal
• 1 small banana mashed
• 4 dates roughly chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp walnuts (optional)
• 1 tbsp almonds (optional)
• 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150℃.
2. In a large bowl, combine the nut butter, oatmeal, banana, dates, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix with hands to fully incorporate all ingredients together until a rough dough forms.
3. Fold in the nuts and seeds and make into small balls.
4. Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before drenching in milk for breakfast

Made this Recipe?

If you had a go at this granola please feel free to give me a shout on Instagram at @food_flaneur  – would love to see your pics!

If you like granola…

You should definitely give these recipes a try:

Breakfast Muffins    

Peanut Butter Protein Bars

Cookie Oatmeal

Pumpkin Porridge

Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

Big Thanks to…

Beaming Baker for their inspiration in helping me to create this recipe. You can find their version here.  

Recipes sent with Love