Christmas Granola
Large clusters of sweet granola with your favorite nuts and dried fruit, perfect for gift giving or Christmas morning breakfast.
Servings: 16
Calories: 293kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb. quick rolled oats or 12 oz of quick rolled oats and 4 oz large flake oats
- 3 cups chopped raw nuts I used almonds, walnuts, and pecans
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup butter
- ⅓ cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- dried fruit I used cranberries, chopped figs, raisins and flaked coconut for half, and chocolate chips and coconut for the other half
Instructions
- To start with put half your quick oats (8 oz.) in a food processor and grind into oat flour.1 lb. quick rolled oats
- Combine in a large bowl the oat flour, quick oats, nuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg and stir.3 cups chopped raw nuts, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 lb. quick rolled oats
- In a small pan combine sugar, butter, salt, and water and heat over a medium heat until it boils, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup butter, ⅓ cup water, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour the melted butter wet ingredients mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir to fully combine. Let it sit 10 min.
- Pour granola mixture onto a large cookie sheet in an even layer, and cook in a 300 degree oven for 25-30 min. Stir the mixture and keep cooking for a total of 1 ½ hours, until crunchy and dry, making sure to stir every 15 min. so the edges don't burn. Be careful not to over stir, you want to have some chucky clusters of granola.
- When it's finished cooking, let it cool completely, and then add in the dried fruit, and/or chocolate chips. Store in an airtight container, like a glass jar.dried fruit
Notes
Chunky Cluster Tip: The secret to big clusters is minimal stirring. Stir gently every 15 minutes to prevent burning, but don't break up the large pieces. Over-stirring creates loose granola instead of satisfying chunks.
Storage: Store completely cooled granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks. Mason jars work perfectly and keep it fresh.
Customization: Choose any combination of nuts totalling 3 cups based on your preferences. Add dried fruit and chocolate after baking to keep them soft, not crunchy.
Gingerbread Version: Increase cinnamon to 1½ tsp, add ¾ teaspoon ground ginger, and a pinch of cloves for authentic gingerbread flavor.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 101mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g
