Comments on: Crunchy granola: breakfast meets lifestyle

By: tph

tph — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:29:59 +0000

To answer the nutritionals question, above: I use My Food Diary, an online service, to track my daily food intake. The webside allows you to enter recipes and then it figures the nutritional content. I don’t use coconut in mine but otherwise use the exact KAF recipe. Here’s the info My Food Diary gave me for 1/4 cup:

Calories: 229
Total Fat: 10.1 grams (Saturated fat: .9 gram)
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 111 mg
Carbs: 32.2 grams
Dietary Fiber: 3.8 grams
Sugars: 16.6 grams
Protein: 4.3 grams
Vit. A: 0% RDA
Vit. C: 0% RDA
Calcium: 3% RDA
Iron: 12% RDA

Of course, this is not exact, but at least it provides a close estimate. Hope this is helpful!

By: skeptic7

skeptic7 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:37:55 +0000

I used a similiar recipe by Mark Britten, but I cook it in a slow cooker. On high with the lid covered for about 1 1/2 hours and on low with the lid off to dry it off for a couple of hours more. Stir occasionally. Its hard to burn and doesn’t tie up the oven. I cook the oats and nuts and seeds and oil and maple syrup and add any dry fruit to the mix when I’m ready to eat it. That lets me change from currents to dates to cherries at a whim.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:53:47 +0000

As a former crunchy-granola, my mother’s granola recipe is very similar, but she ‘bakes’ it in the microwave. 4 minutes (2x stirring), plus air drying and you’ve got crunchy granola. She makes it all the time. I always forget to bother and then make googly eyes over hers until she gives me some. ; )

Basic recipe:

1/2 cup sliced almonds
2.5 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup raisins and/or dried cranberries

Place the nuts in a 13 by 9 inch glass baking dish. Cook on high for 2 minutes to lightly toast the nuts. (The time may vary with your microwave.) Stir in oats, wheat germ and brown sugar until well mixed. Stir in honey, making sure to coat the mixture well.

Cook on high in microwave for 3 minutes. Stir well. Cook 1 minute longer. Cool slightly. Stir in raisins and/or dried cranberries. Store in airtight container. Sound great. Thanks for sharing. Aren’t mom’s great! Mary @ KAF

By: Tracie Koenig

Tracie Koenig — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:19:43 +0000

Just made this super yummy granola today and then had some for dinner! Our store had dried strawberries and blueberries. Cannot wait to make it for Holiday gifts this year. Keep up the good work!

By: Pat Humphrey

Pat Humphrey — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:30:09 +0000

I’ve been looking for a granola receipe for a long time now. This sounds like just what I want. Thank you.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:54:14 +0000

For those looking for alternatives / additions, raw pumpkin seeds are phenomenal in granola! I also love whole, raw almonds.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:46:49 +0000

I love your recipes! Everyone makes my mouth water. I’d never really considered making my own granola but it sounds like a wonderful idea and, I must admit, your pictures are making me drool a little.

Of course, just today I decided I need to cut back a bit (see http://strangerkiss.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/nightmare-in-my-closet/ for gory details) but this is really tempting. After all granola is very healthy…whole grains, fruit, maple syrup! This is definitely worth making an exception for. However, in the interest of my resolution, besides the Splenda suggestion made to Lauren B. do you have any other ways that the calorie count could be reduced a bit?

So sorry, Barbara - I struggle with this, because I love granola, and it’s quite calorie-intense. However, it’s also full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, so you’re getting lots of good stuff in those calories. You could leave out the oil, which will yield muesli (not crunchy) instead of granola. You can cut back on the dried fruit and nuts, which will pretty much leave plain, dry oats. Or you can do what I do - ration your portions. I like to stir it into yogurt, which “stretches” the experience and adds calcium, too. Good luck - PJH

By: Lauren B

Lauren B — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:50:33 +0000

Hi KA Bakers,

I’m trying to make a low carb granola, and was wondering how important the amount of sugar is to the texture? Could I halve it and sub in honey for the maple syrup? Could I just up the oil, or use butter in place of it?

Love learning baking chemistry and techniques from your blog. The posts here are so informative!

Well, you have an incredible amount of carbs here anyway, though many are whole grain… you can certainly sub honey for maple syrup, so long as you watch it carefully towards the end of the baking time - honey tends to burn. Try subbing some low-carb (Splenda) apple or cranberry juice for some of the syrup or honey, that should help. No need to change the fat from oil to butter, or to increase it. Hope it works out well for you - PJH

By: Deanna

Deanna — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:39:33 +0000

I love this granola! It’s by far the best I’ve tried and I always have some on hand. It looks beautiful on my countertop in a large clear-glass canister - and so easy to take a scoopful when you need a healthy snack. I blogged about this same recipe - you can check out my version of it at http://marzipanmom.blogspot.com/2008/03/out-of-granola-again.html . I am enjoying your blog!

Great picture, Deanna - and cool blog- PJH

By: Philip

Philip — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:05:49 +0000

sounds good, but what would you add to be able to compact it and cut into squares for granola bars? I’m looking for a good recipe for my luch box.

Here’s a good recipe for Chewy Granola Bars. It doesn’t start with granola, but I’m betting you could figure out how to do that, if you wanted to… PJH