Homemade nut-free granola

In my quest to eliminate as many packaged/processed foods as possible I decided that we needed a breakfast cereal option. David eats a bowl of raisin bran nearly every morning and the organic version is very expensive. He will eat oatmeal occasionally when I remember to put it in the crockpot the night before but we also need a cold cereal option. He loves the granola I occasionally buy from the bulk bin at Native Roots in Norman but it is rather expensive.

Yesterday I decided to look for a recipe for homemade granola. While I don’t plan to eat it regularly myself, I still needed a nut-free version. I’m allergic to at least a couple of types of nuts so I try to avoid contact with any of them. This was the first one I looked at and since I had all of the necessary ingredients, I decided to give it a try.

Here is the recipe, slightly altered:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup organic dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 4 cups quick oats or old fashioned oats briefly pulsed in the blender
• a handful of organic, unsweetened coconut
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• a handful of organic raisins and/or dried cranberries

Directions:


Mix together brown sugar, oil and honey in small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and cinnamon.

Combine oats, coconut, dried fruit and sugar/oil mixture in a large bowl. Stir until well-mixed. Spread into  2 9×13 pans and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Stir, turn off heat and return to oven for 3-4 hours. Remove, let cool and store in air tight container.

This was amazingly easy to make and quite delicious. I plan to buy dried cherries and perhaps other dried fruits to vary it in the future. Or if I ever buy that dehydrator on my wish list, I’ll dry my own fruits. I haven’t figured the cost of this recipe but I’m sure it’s less expensive than purchasing organic granola.

Now that I have this recipe in my arsenal, we can at least cut back on the number of boxes of raisin bran.

Next up: Make various muffins and freeze for breakfast. Or maybe some sausage and egg biscuits, for the occasional treat.

Be sure to check out the source of this recipe, Lynn’s Recipe Adventures. Her recipes are wheat, nut and peanut-free.