I have never really thought of myself as a hippie. I do not wear birkenstocks, I do not own anything tie-dyed, I am hopelessly addicted to Gossip Girl. Pretty un-hippie-ish, if you ask me. And yet, one Sunday, I felt this inexplicable tug, whispering into my ear, “homemade granola.”
Um, excuse me? Homemade granola? Seriously?
But that little whisper became a craving, and soon I was sitting over a bowl of oats, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and farmer’s market honey and maple syrup. And you know what? I was a pretty happy little wannabe-hippie.
Because this stuff is really, really good. So good that I’m shocked at how quickly it was eaten — let’s just say that “breakfast for the week” soon became “after dinner snack.” And by Wednesday, I was back to eating instant oatmeal at my desk, because my lovely bag of homemade granola was a (fond) memory.
I will also say, that if you are looking for healthy breakfast options on a budget, this recipe is about as good as you can get. I bought oatmeal, raisins, cashews and pumpkin seeds from bulk bins at my favorite health food store, and I think all together they cost about $2. And, a quick note on maple syrup — I buy Grade A Dark Amber syrup from the farmer’s market to use for baking, and it has an incredible strong maple flavor. If you can get your hands on a bottle of it, definitely give it a try!
In fact, give this whole recipe a try. It’s worth embracing your inner hippie.
Honey Maple Granola
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup chopped cashews
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
4 tbsp maple syrup (I use “Grade A Dark Amber” maple syrup in baking)
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup raisins
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the raisins.
3. Spread out the granola on a baking sheet lined with silipat, or on a nonstick baking sheet.
4. Bake the granola for about 30 minutes, stirring every 8 minutes or so. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks (if it lasts that long!).
Makes about 2 cups of granola.
33 responses so far ↓
1 Ann // May 12, 2008 at 7:50 am
Oh yes… I absolutely love good granola sprinkled on Greek yogurt with a some fruit for breakfast. Your recipe looks wonderful… delicious AND healthy.
2 rachel // May 12, 2008 at 8:27 am
This looks great and I normally not a granola fan!
3 Erin // May 12, 2008 at 9:00 am
Is that your dog?! If so he’s so cute! I really really want to get a dog. Can you tell? I covet everyone’s pets these days.
Granola is the gift that keeps on giving. Great job!
4 katy // May 12, 2008 at 9:02 am
He’s one of my two dogs - he has a twin sister too! However, he’s the one who jumps up on my kitchen table whenever I turn my back to him — at Thanksgiving dinner, he stole an entire stalk of broccoli off my mom’s plate and RAN!
5 NuJoi // May 12, 2008 at 9:35 am
That looks wonderful!!!
6 Elle // May 12, 2008 at 9:53 am
I love homemade granola! And it’s so easy, isn’t it? Sweet little dog, too!
7 mimi // May 12, 2008 at 10:00 am
wonderful granola, would love some for breakfast right now! and i must have the kitty version of your pooch. the minute i turn around, she’s up there on the table acting like a beast! next time i’ll have to get a photo of her!
8 VeggieGirl // May 12, 2008 at 10:35 am
Katy, wow, you and I are a LOT alike - I do not own anything tie-dyed or any birkenstocks; and Gossip Girl is one of my all-time favorite shows (and book series - it’s definitely a guilt pleasure, and a nice break from college reading assignments, haha). I’m a vegan, but definitely NOT a hippie; and homemade granola is truly delicious :0)
Your dog is quite adorable!
9 Calvin // May 12, 2008 at 11:15 am
Granola is delicious; that is, when I can get my paws on some.
10 Jen (Modern Beet) // May 12, 2008 at 12:49 pm
seriously, why all the hippie-hating??
I have two pairs of birkenstocks (both well over 10 years old), my kitchen apron is blue and green tie-dye, and I have never heard of Gossip Girl… I guess that makes me… a hippie!
anyhow, I’ve never made homemade granola, but it looks super delicious, and quite easy. I just found some succulent semi-dried figs at the market the other day, which I think would also go very nicely in the mix.
11 emily // May 12, 2008 at 1:10 pm
i love tie-die and gossip girl. speaking of which, the last episode was insane !! This looks delicious…I might add a heaping table spoon of salt… but that’s clearly not the healthiest thing to do!! I can’t wait to cook with you (i.e. eat your food) starting this summer!!!!!!!
xoxo you know you love me
12 katy // May 12, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Jen — Ha! I actually did have a pair of Birkenstocks as a kid (summer camp in Burlington, VT will do that to you).
I would gladly wear them again if you’ll send some of those figs my way…
VeggieGirl — OH, I read the books too! Perfect subway reading… and Saturday afternoon reading…. Except my friends keep borrowing them and not returning them! Grrrrr….
13 brilynn // May 12, 2008 at 5:36 pm
You can’t go wrong with maple, honey and cashews, I’ve bookmarked this to try!
14 Kevin // May 12, 2008 at 7:43 pm
This homemade granola looks and sounds really good. I have been wanting to try making granola for a while now.
15 Marc @ No Recipes // May 12, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Yumm! I just had a disappointing batch of granola from ‘wichcraft today. It’s normally amazing, but it was burnt today and the yogurt they serve it on which is normally amazing was watery and a huge letdown. It left me thinking I need to figure out how to make my own granola and strained yogurt. Thanks for the recipe!
16 My Sweet & Saucy // May 12, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I love homemade granola! This recipe looks great!
17 Tarah // May 12, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I absolutely love homemade granola. The best kind in my opinion. Yours look like a great morning breakfast :]
18 SP // May 13, 2008 at 2:41 pm
This sounds perfect–I looked into homemade granola before but ran into a roadblock:
” I bought oatmeal, raisins, cashews and pumpkin seeds from bulk bins at my favorite health food store, and I think all together they cost about $2.”
I have no idea where to find bulk bins. I looked for ingredients at Trader Joe’s but they were fancy little bags, much to expensive to make it worth it.
I’ll have to check out some health food stores…
19 katie // May 13, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Your granola looks lovely….
And I’m all excited because I just found an internet site with free dilivery on Birkenstocks…. I love those things - so comfortable and they last forever.
They may leave something in the style department, but, when one is in the middle of nowhere…
20 katy // May 13, 2008 at 9:31 pm
SP — Yeah, our Whole Foods don’t have bins either, although the one I went to in North Carolina this weekend did! Look for health food stores that stock organic/natural packaged foods and tons of vitamins — not so much the supermarket-type stores. They’re more likely to have bulk bins — but once you find them, you won’t go back! The nuts I get from the bins are sooooo much fresher than the packaged ones you can buy!
21 Paula // May 14, 2008 at 8:09 am
The granola looks super. I would love that on top of some yogurt. Love the photo with your dog, what a cutie!
22 edamame // May 14, 2008 at 8:25 am
Your site gave the devil in my heart big power. The devil said to me. “Eat this thing which I was sweet, and seemed to be delicious” As a result, I lost a fight with the devil. I was dieting so… (?_?)
From Japan
http://food-soybean.blogspot.com/
23 Patricia Scarpin // May 14, 2008 at 8:37 am
I would love some of this, Katy!
24 Kristen // May 14, 2008 at 9:35 am
Katy - You should try making homemade granola bars next. My favorite court marshall last year Tina made them for us, and they were so cute and tasty.
Emily - love the “xoxo you know you love me” part. Totally heard Kristin Bell’s voice.
PS. I”M HOME! Well, for another week or so, and then off to Germany.
25 Cakespy // May 14, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I’m right there with you Katy–my mantra is “Bad things happen when you leave the city”. So while I can’t embrace the granola culture, I can certainly embrace this granola!
26 Laura // May 14, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I love homemade granola. Thanks for visiting my blog the other day-always nice to meet other “Katys”. Your blog is absolutely beautiful!
27 My Grocery Challenege Update « Stacking Pennies // May 15, 2008 at 1:46 pm
[...] and I decided to try making my own granola. I estimated the cost to be about $3 for 2 cups of this (which would be about $9/lb), but maybe I could use less cashews and a lower priced maple syrup to [...]
28 Joy the Baker // May 16, 2008 at 9:08 pm
You’re right, you can’t be a hippie and watch Gossip Girls at the same time. You can however, eat homemade granola and watch Gossip Girls… that works…
29 Carnival of the Recipes - May 19th Edition : Thrive! // May 19, 2008 at 10:18 am
[...] start off with a great recipe for Honey Maple Granola posted by Katie at sugarlaws. Great site, [...]
30 White On Rice Couple // May 20, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Calvin is sooo cute!! We wanna hug and kiss him. Where’s Coco? We wanna see Coco!
Oh, back to the food….love the granola too. I totally believe you that these are really, really, really good! ( I added an extra “really” in there!)
31 wonderment » Blog Archive » Recipe Linkfest // May 20, 2008 at 4:06 pm
[...] Honey Maple [...]
32 healthy breakfast // May 21, 2008 at 7:03 am
[...] Maple GranolaHoney Maple Granola recipe from scratch — easy, healthy breakfast!http://www.sugarlaws.com/honey-maple-granola/Prevent Fleas - Healthy Breakfast Recipe for Dogs Video - About.comHelp rid your pet of pesky fleas [...]
33 Jason Adams // Jun 30, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Looks great and our family makes pretty close to the same recipe for Granola, and just like you, we are far from being hippies!
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