Granola

I have never been a big fan of breakfast, not the relaxed weekend breakfast that is one of my guilty pleasures, but the rushed weekday breakfast. The one that you know is good for you but that you just can't stomach before you have to dash out of the house and often skip in favour of vast quantities of coffee. In recent years I have made a concerted effort with weekday breakfast but often find pre-packaged cereals a chore and often get bored with them before the end of the box. I was introduced to the joys of granola and yogurt as an alternative breakfast through a friend and a pre-packaged supermarket pot, and while I found this a pleasant way to start the day I found that shop bought boxes of granola are often oily, expensive and scrimp on the fruit. 

I decided that making my own granola would be the perfect solution to getting granola just the way I like it. I used a recipe for Not-Too-Crunchy Granola from The Desperate Housewives Cookbook (a gift from Mr M after a business trip to the Sates) as a base but have adapted it to make it less oily and just the way I like it and to reflect the dried fruits and nuts in the cupboard. I especially like serving granola with natural yogurt and berry compote.

Granola

(Adapted from The Desperate Housewives Cookbook)

FryLight sunflower spray (I found this the best way to make the granola less greasy)

3-cups porridge oats

1/2 cup oat bran (or wheat germ)

1 cup flaked almonds (or any nut you prefer)

3/4 cup dessicated coconut

1/3 cup maple syrup (or honey)

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup sultanas

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup dried blueberries (or your favourite dried fruit)

1 cup banana chips, broken into pieces (make sure you get crunchy banana chips, the softer ones tend to go slimy when you add milk or yogurt)

•  Preheat the oven to 1500C (fan assisted).
• Spray a large, deep pan with the sunflower spray, add the oats, bran, nuts and coconut. Mix well and spray a few more times with the sunflower spray. Make sure the mixture is spread evenly onto the tray and bake stirring occasionally. 
• Whisk the syrup and sugar with 2 tbsp of water in a jug. When the oat mixture is lightly browned (around 40 min) drizzle over the syrup mixture and stir well. Bake, stirring occasionally until the mixture is dry and crunchy but still light brown (15 - 30 minutes), you need to keep a close eye on the mixture to avoid burning. 
• Remove from the oven and stir in the banana chips and fruit. 
• Store in an airtight container.