Maple Almond Granola

I was going through some old recipes the other day and I found my old “crunchy granola” recipe from the seventies.  Yes, I admit it, I made granola in the seventies, and we called it “crunchy granola”.  It was really good granola, the kind with big clumps, and I made it often as you can see by the recipe card.  I had edited the original version but I don’t remember where it came from.

It’s not the seventies any more and I felt that this recipe needed updating.  I wanted the new version to be gluten free, so I replaced the whole wheat flour with almond meal and the wheat germ with ground flax seed.  If you want this to be truly gluten free you’ll need to be sure and buy gluten free oats.  I left out the coconut so it wouldn’t be as sweet and to cut down on the fat content.  I also wanted the maple flavor to come through and I felt that if I added coconut, that’s what you would taste.  That said, it is really good with the coconut, so I made that an option in the recipe below.

I also wanted the granola to be lower in oil so I cut the amount in half.  You could leave the oil out all together if you wanted.  I replaced the honey with maple syrup but you could use honey or agave if you want a lower glycemic granola.  

Mix the dry ingredients together and add the almonds (or you could use walnuts or pecans).  Whisk together the wet ingredients and pour them over the dry ingredients and mix everything together well.  Spread the granola out on a cookie sheet and bake for two hours, stir a bit after an hour.

I cut the original recipe in half but if you really like this granola, and/or you have a big family, you will probably want to double the recipe and spread it out on two cookie sheets.  After it’s cooled completely, you should store the granola in a jar to keep it crunchy.  

I add the dried fruit (raisins, cranberries or apricots will be tasty) afterwards.  If you bake the granola with the dried fruit, it gets too dried out and it’s very hard to chew.  I eat my granola with rice milk.

Maple Almond Granola

Makes 6 servings - Use organic ingredients whenever possible

3 cups regular rolled oats

1/2 cup ground flax seeds (I used golden flax)

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 cup coconut (optional)

1/4 cup raw almonds

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pure maple syrup (grade B)

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons sunflower or safflower oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 225°

In a bowl, mix together the oats, ground flax, almond meal, coconut (if you’re using it), salt and nuts.

In another bowl, whisk together the 
syrup, water, oil and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and stir well.

Spread out on a cookie sheet, you want there to be clumps.

Bake for I hour and stir it a bit and bake for another hour.

Let the granola cool completely before putting it in an air tight container.