The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I hadn’t thought about granola for a very long time, until my daughter-in-law mentioned she had it and how good it was. I asked her to share the recipe, and I had remembered I had seen my old granola recipe not too long ago.

I must have been about her age when I started making it. There are many variations you can make, according to your taste. I will share her recipe and the one I have had for 40 years. They change only in the amounts of oil and sugar—well, I guess in the other ingredients also.

Granola - from Alma

5 cups oats

½ c. ground flax seed (or guinoa-cooked?)

1 ½ c. shredded coconut

¾ c. maple syrup

½ c. olive/canola/your choice of oil

½ c. brown sugar or honey

½ c. -1 c. chopped raw almonds

1 t. vanilla

½ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 300. Mix ingredients well. Spread onto 2 cookie sheets, each in a single layer. Bake, stirring every 10-15 minutes for about 40 minutes. Add dried fruit, like raisins, after it is out of the oven.

Granola-old recipe

6 c. oats 1 c. salad oil

1 c. brown sugar ½ c. honey

¾ c. wheat germ 3 tsp vanilla

½ c. coconut

¼ c. sesame seeds

1 c. nuts

Heat oats in a 9 x 13 pan at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove. Mix all ingredients and put on 2 baking sheets. Bake for 35 minutes. Add dried fruit.

MY NOTES: As you can see, they are very similar. I like that the first one adds cinnamon. I thought it had quite a bit of sugar, until I found my recipe, which has more. If you like maple flavor, then add the maple syrup. The second one uses more vanilla. Using oats seems to be the base, but the rest is up to you.

Neither recipe says to refrigerate, but I’m sure putting it into an airtight container would be a good idea.

For those who eat yogurt, this would be a good topping. Use on top of fruit, cold cereal, or by itself.

Enjoy!