Hi Moms,
I tried a recipe for homemade granola today, and while it was fine, it wasn't great. This is the recipe:
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
I mixed the dry ingredients, then added the wet - stirred it up and into the oven at 300 for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The finished product was more crumbly or even "crummy" instead of the little clusters I was hoping for. The sesame seeds float to the top of the bowl when I add milk.
Do you know how to change the recipe to make clusters? Hopefully without adding more oil?!
Thanks!
When you took it out of the oven, did you stir it right away? When I take it out of the oven, I let get cool before stirring. That helps it cluster. Here is my fav. recipe:
http://weelicious.com/2008/09/15/wee-granola/
Below are some ideas that might help plus you might want to increase the honey a bit and compare some recipe from some popular websites. I think clumping them together yourself will help and a bit more water. I always add a table spoon at a time a recipe is a guideline sometimes you have to add and make it your own. Best of luck hope this helps some.
* Choose old fashioned oats for a crispy texture. Quick oats create a less-tasty, powdery bite.
* If you like clumpier granola, make sure to squeeze the cereal (or other ingredients) into small clusters before baking. A touch of water can help keeps the pieces together.
* Bake at a low temperature for a crispy, brown finish; go too high and you might burn it.
* Granola keeps in an airtight container for up to a month; stash it in a cool, dry place.
I was just planning to make some for the first time. We've moved away from eating cold cereal and toward granola - my girls love it! I was going to try this recipe a friend of mine just made:
http://livingtheswelllife.blogspot.com/2011/02/granola-fo...
My mom and nana both make a wonderful granola... I've never made it myself (because they always make big batches and send some my way)I think their's has more honey than yours and no water... but I do notice one BIG difference in their method from yours.
They spread the wet granola mix out on cookie sheets to bake and don't touch it while it bakes. When they take it out at the end, it is very sticky and they kind of scrape it around and then let it cool... it definitely forms clusters... you have to kind of chop them on the cookie sheet to make them reasonably sized.
HTH
T.
I have a similar recipe for granola, but mine uses 1/2 Cup Oil and 1/2 Cup Honey for 4 Cups of Oats and no water. I heat the oil and honey together in the microwave for 1 minutes before pouring it over the dry ingredients. It bakes for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. I stir 2-3 times while baking but once out of the oven, I let it cool without stirring. There are lots of big clumps, however after shaking the batch around in the container, I also end up with loose sesame seeds.
