Oatmeal Cookie Granola
Your house will smell so good when you make this!
Growing up, my Grandma Grace always had homemade granola in her pantry. I loved it, it was delicious, but I mostly loved that it had sesame seeds in it and no grocery store granola ever had that. But it also had a lot of oil, which we don’t eat now.
Alan loves granola, so I worked on making a refined-oil free version. He also loves oatmeal cookies, so our granola is reminiscent of those. I make it in big chunks because Alan likes to have a little handful occasionally for a cookie-like treat.
The Process
Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, if desired. I like using a liner, not because anything sticks, but because it makes pouring the cooled granola into the big jar easier—you just pick up the mat and pour!
Dry Ingredients
In a large mixing bowl combine old-fashioned rolled oats (gluten-free is you need that option), oat flour, sunflower seeds, and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.
Dry ingredients: Rolled Oats, oat flour, cinnamon, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.
Note: You don’t have to go out and buy oat flour. Simply grind rolled oats in a blend or food processor and voila!
Wet Ingredients
In a small bowl or saucepan, mix together nut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. If the nut butter is too thick, you can heat the mixture in a saucepan or in the microwave for about 45 seconds until melted.
Mixed nut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla.
If you’d like a lower-fat version, sub out half of the nut butter with fruit puree, okara (soybean pulp from making soy milk), or sourdough starter discard, mix the same way.
Wet mixture with pumpkin puree subbed for half of the nut butter.
Combine
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and then mix with a spoon or your hands. Kind of smoosh it together until combined. There will be big chunks, that’s great!
Mixed ingredients. Big chunks are ok!
This is a great cooking project to do with kids, as they love to cook with their hands!
Bake
Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Put into a 325°F oven for 15 minutes. Then flip the granola with a spatula, turn the pans, lower the oven temperature to 300°F and bake for 10 minutes. At the end of this time, turn the oven off, and leave the pans in the oven for 20 minutes. Then remove the pans to cool.
Flip the granola after the first 15 minutes of baking.
Cool and Add Raisins
Add the raisins after the granola is out of the oven. They get hard and burnt if you bake them with the granola, which is definitely NOT yummy. Let the granola cool completely before storing in a sealed container.
Add the raisins after baking, otherwise they’re really inedible!
Options
The best thing about this granola recipe is that it’s just a base and very convertible to what you have on hand or like. Don’t have sunflower seeds, no biggie, use whatever seeds or chopped nuts you have. Don’t want all that fat from the nut butter? No problem, cut it down with some fruit puree, like pumpkin (Alan’s favorite), or even sourdough discard (that’s my favorite). Not a raisin fan? Leave them out or use other dried fruit. And vary the spices. Make it your own!
Three variations: Peanut Butter (bottom), Pumpkin (middle), and Sourdough Discard (top)
Oat Substitutes: Rolled rye, rolled barley, rolled wheat, etc.
Oat Flour Substitutes: Ground flax seed, brown rice flour, whole wheat pastry flour, soy flour, barley flour, almond flour, etc.
Spices: Pumpkin pie spice, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, cocoa powder.
Sunflower Seed Substitutes: Use raw sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, or a mixture!
Nut butters: Peanut, almond, tahini, sunflower, etc. Pureed fruit such as pumpkin, applesauce, bananas, apricots. Sourdough starter discard. Okara, from making soy milk. Try a mix. I generally cut the nut butter by half and sub in fruit puree or sourdough.
Maple Syrup Substitutes: Brown Rice syrup, molasses, sorghum syrup, jam.
Vanilla Substitutes: Almond extract.
Instead of Raisins: Other dried fruit like cranberries, dates, apricots, or pineapple (this is really good, especially with cardamom).
Many Uses!
We use granola for more than breakfast cereal. It’s a yummy snack. If hot cereal is too mushy for you, add a tablespoon of crunchy granola! We love it on yogurt or fruit. And, if you’re looking for a quick option for a cobbler, make a warm fruit compote and serve with granola on top and a dollop of yogurt!
Granola turns stewed fruit into an instant cobbler!
I hope you’ll find this recipe useful. I’m excited to see the combinations everyone comes up with. Please share your favorite version!
Oatmeal Cookie Granola
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats use gluten-free if sensitive
- ½ cups Oat Flour Make by grinding rolled oats in blender or food processor or buy pre-ground
- ½ cup Raw sunflower seeds or other raw seeds or nuts of choice
- 1 tsp Cinnamon or other spice, such as cardamom, pumpkin pie spice, cocoa powder, etc.
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup Nut butter of choice if looking to reduce fat, calorie-density, or make nut-free, sub fruit puree (pumpkin, banana, applesauce, etc), or sourdough starter discard for half of the nut butter.
- ¼ cup Pure Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
Optional
- ½ cup Raisins or other dried fruit, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine nut butter (fruit puree, okara, or sourdough starter discard) and maple syrup. It may help to heat these in a saucepan so they mix nicely. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well until thoroughly combined.
- Pour onto prepared baking sheet and use your hands to press down into an even layer. Bake 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and use a spatula to flip over sections of the granola, gently breaking them into chunks. Return to oven, reduce heat to 300°F and bake 10 minutes.
- Turn off oven completely and leave granola in the oven for another 20 minutes, or until crisp.
- Remove from oven, stir in dried fruit, if desired. Let cool completely before storing in a sealed container.
Notes
Do you like this post? Please share....
If you liked this post, you might like one of these:
Categories:
Tags:
[Trī-māz-ing]
Cindy wants you to be Trimazing—three times better than amazing! After improving her health and fitness through plant-based nutrition, losing 60 pounds and becoming an adult-onset athlete, she retired from her 20-year firefighting career to help people just like you. She works with people and organizations so they can reach their health and wellness goals.
Cindy Thompson is a national board-certified Health and Wellness Coach, Lifestyle Medicine Coach, Master Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator, Fitness Nutrition Specialist, Behavior Change Specialist, and Fit2Thrive Firefighter Peer Fitness Trainer. She is a Food for Life Instructor with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Rouxbe Plant-Based Professional, and Harvard Medical School Culinary Coach, teaching people how to prepare delicious, satisfying, and health-promoting meals.
She provides health and lifestyle coaching at Trimazing! Health & Lifestyle Coaching. Cindy can be reached at info@trimazing.com.
Subscribe to the Trimazing Blog
Receive occasional blog posts in your email inbox.
Subscribe to the Trimazing Blog
Receive occasional blog posts in your email inbox.