Homestyle Granola

Homestyle Granola

There are so many different types of granola available at grocery stores. Most of them have ingredients that I can't even pronounce! In an effort to consume cleaner foods with less strange ingredients, I have been making more of my baked goods at home. This granola uses recognizable dry ingredients: whole grains, oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, coconut flakes, and flax seeds. My fiancé  (soon to be husband!) and I brew our own beer,  and in an effort to produce less waste in the kitchen, I used dried spent grains left over from the beer brewing process in place of regular whole grains for the granola. But don't worry! There is no alcohol in spent grains. The alcohol in beer forms during the fermentation period, after the grains have been removed. If you don't have spent grains, you can of course use regular grains, or simply double the amount of oats in the recipe. 

Enjoy! 

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Ingredients

  • 4 cups spent grains
  • 4 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1 cup sliced almonds
  • 1 cup pumpkin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup barley malt
  • 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
  • 1/4 cup flax seeds
  • 2 cups raisins

Directions

  • Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and toss until evenly distributed. Don't add the raisins just yet! Set aside.
  • In a saucepan, combine honey, molasses, barley malt, vanilla, cinnamon, and allspice. Heat this gooey mixture until warm and liquefied, but not boiling.
  • Add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture, making sure to coat the mixture evenly.
  • Bake on cookie sheets at 250F, stirring occasionally, until granola turns golden in color and loses its moisture.
  • Notice how the kitchen smells amazing right now...mmm!
  • After removing from the oven, allow the granola to cool and further solidify. It wont be solid when the baking is done, but the sugars will bind when the granola cools. 
  • Remove from the sheets, stir in raisins.
  • Store in an airtight container. You can leave this in the cupboard and consume within two weeks. If you want to save some for another time, it would be best to freeze the granola. 
  • Enjoy with milk, yogurt, ice cream, or by itself!