Light Granola Recipes

EASY HOMEMADE GRANOLA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.
• Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture.
• Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.
• Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the raisins and cherries over the granola and use your hands to transfer it to an airtight container.

LIGHT FRUIT AND NUT GRANOLA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Toss the rolled oats, spelt flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, canola oil, applesauce, maple syrup, dried apricots, pecans and ground flax seed together in a bowl, and mix well. Spread the granola mixture on the lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 20 minutes, stir the granola, then bake for another 15 minutes until dry. Cool completely before serving.

LIGHT GRANOLA

Steps:

• TIP: I never buy oat flour. I just dump some oats into my food processor, whiz for about a minute, and then I have oat flour! It's so much cheaper this way and is so easy-to-do.
• Preheat oven to 275°F In a large bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, and Brown Sugar Splenda. Stir to combine. Add the syrup and stir well until the syrup is evenly distributed. Add the melted butter and again stir until all of the oats are evenly coated.
• I like little, crunchy nuggets of granola when I eat it. To make the nuggets, grab a small handful of the granola mixture and firmly squeeze it in your fist to make glob. The mixture should hold together fairly well. Over a rimmed sheet pan, gently break the blob into smaller nuggets. Repeat with the remaining mixture. When finished, you should have a single layer of larger nuggets, smaller nuggets, and loose pieces of oatmeal. Don't move the granola once it is in the sheet pan or the nuggets will fall apart. Some people do not like larger nuggets of granola. If you prefer granola with loose pieces of oats, just dump the granola directly onto a sheet pan after you have mixed everything together. Just give the sheet pan a quick shake to evenly spread everything out.
• Bake the granola for 20 minutes. Take the sheet pan out of the oven and very, very gently stir the granola. You, after all, do not want to break apart the nuggets you made earlier. Put the sheet pan back in the oven for another 8 minutes or so for a lightly toasted granola. If you like your granola really toasted, you can leave it in for several more minutes. Remove it from the oven and leave it in the sheet pan until it has cooled completely. The granola will get crispier as it cools. Toss with your desired mixed dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. Store in a sealed container.
• After you make this the first time, make a note to yourself and decide if you would prefer the next batch to be sweeter or less sweet. I actually prefer my granola less sweet so I often add less Splenda than this recipe calls for. Others have preferred more sugar in theirs. You decide!

BASIC GRANOLA RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, mix together the oats, light brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir the honey, oil and vanilla extract into the dry ingredients. Use your hands if necessary to make sure it's well combined.
• Spread the mixture in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove from the oven and stir; add the chopped almonds. Return to the oven and bake until everything is toasted and evenly browned, an additional 10 minutes.
• Allow the granola to cool on the baking sheet, then add the dried cranberries and toss to distribute. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.