Border Collie
Deceased
In the past when I've made granola it was either baked hard and stuck together, but was very hard, or it was amenable to chewing but fell apart into little clumps, like grapenuts cereal. I finally got it right with an idea I found on the internet, adding egg whites. They hold the granola together and yet it's the right texture - not too hard, not too chewy.
This is a healthy granola, but has the taste and texture (almost) of a good oatmeal cookie. Frankly, just flour, oats, honey, and egg whites would probably work fine, maybe even just oats and egg whites alone, but I haven't tried taking this minimalist yet. This has worked a few times now consistently.
Combine in large mixing bowl:
2 cups whole wheat flour
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)
Blend together separately:
1 cup oil
1 1/4 cups honey
3 egg whites (this is important for the granola to stick together. One might be enough but I need 3 yolks for key lime pie, so 3 egg whites it is)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons almond flavoring (optional)
1 tablespoon salt
Add blended liquids to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Drizzle a half cup or a full cup of maple syrup over the mixture and stir in.
Spread out on 2 greased cookie sheets about a 1/2 inch thick, and with a the edge of a spatula or butter knife press lines in the granola criss-cross about 3" apart to help the middle of the mix to cook evenly. It'll look like you've got a dozen squares on the cookie sheet. I use airbake cookie sheets to get more even cooking.
Bake 45 minutes at 300 degrees F. Then set aside to cool a while, break the pieces up and place in an airtight container.
Right after cooling, while you're breaking the squares up into bite size pieces, the texture will be like a chewie granola bar but will stiffen a little in the frig, where I store mine next to the milk. Thereafter it's the right texture.
Border Collie
This is a healthy granola, but has the taste and texture (almost) of a good oatmeal cookie. Frankly, just flour, oats, honey, and egg whites would probably work fine, maybe even just oats and egg whites alone, but I haven't tried taking this minimalist yet. This has worked a few times now consistently.
Combine in large mixing bowl:
2 cups whole wheat flour
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)
Blend together separately:
1 cup oil
1 1/4 cups honey
3 egg whites (this is important for the granola to stick together. One might be enough but I need 3 yolks for key lime pie, so 3 egg whites it is)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons almond flavoring (optional)
1 tablespoon salt
Add blended liquids to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Drizzle a half cup or a full cup of maple syrup over the mixture and stir in.
Spread out on 2 greased cookie sheets about a 1/2 inch thick, and with a the edge of a spatula or butter knife press lines in the granola criss-cross about 3" apart to help the middle of the mix to cook evenly. It'll look like you've got a dozen squares on the cookie sheet. I use airbake cookie sheets to get more even cooking.
Bake 45 minutes at 300 degrees F. Then set aside to cool a while, break the pieces up and place in an airtight container.
Right after cooling, while you're breaking the squares up into bite size pieces, the texture will be like a chewie granola bar but will stiffen a little in the frig, where I store mine next to the milk. Thereafter it's the right texture.
Border Collie