Our Granola

I had a busy afternoon stocking up on breakfast bits and pieces.  I made a sourdough loaf, some rhubarb and orange compote and a batch of our own-recipe granola.  It's so straightforward to make I have no idea why people eat the shop-bought stuff (which can be so sugary with nasty dried fruit); the other great thing is that you can pretty much choose what you put in it.  Here's our standard recipe - but we often make changes depending on what we have in.  Another great recipe is Andy's Fairfield Granola from Nigella Lawson's Feast - very delicious, but a bit more luxurious than ours.


House Granola
400g rolled oats
50g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
30g sesame seeds
150g whole unblanched almonds
75g Freedom Syrup (or any other syrup - rice or maple maybe)
150ml water
150ml cold pressed rape seed oil (or mild oil of your choice) 
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
freshly grated nutmeg (around 1/2 tsp)
250g raisins


Preheat your oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5.  Mix all the ingredients, apart from the raisins, in a large bowl.  Spread the mixture thinly into 2 large shallow baking or roasting tins.  Bake for around 25-30 mins until golden brown, turning everything over after about 15 minutes to make sure everything gets nicely crunchy. Try not to handle the granola too roughly - otherwise it will become a bit crumby.  When it's done, take it out of the oven and leave to cool on the trays.  Divide the raisins between the 2 trays and stir them in.  Transfer your granola to a airtight container - the quantities given above exactly fill a 2 litre clip top Le Parfait jar.  


I can't tell you exactly how long this keeps for - we've never managed to keep a jar for longer than a week, but it still tastes nice and fresh then, so I'd imagine that it would keep for a couple of weeks.  It is delicious served with plain old milk, or with yogurt and fruit compote or sliced banana.  I don't need to tell you how nutritious the ingredients are - it's also really filling too. I hope you give it a try and enjoy it as much as we do.