Posted on March 16, 2009
Filed Under Breakfasts, Snacks
I’ve never made granola before. Or granola bars. They always call for bran or wheat germ and those are 2 ingredients that keep me flipping thro’ the cookbook and thinking, “Well, I guess I won’t make granola this time”. (*whisper* I’ve never even seen bran and wheat germ or know what they are.) So, I buy my granola at the bulk foods store (only on rare occassions because it’s pricey) and buy my granola bars at the grocery store.
Then, just lately a few of my friends started raving about this granola and when I looked at the recipe, I was glad to see that it took ‘normal’ ingredients! So, I made some. It is SO good! Like one of my friends said, it’s good at any stage of the making process… you can’t help but sampling it here and there while mixing, baking, and stirring it.
Eat it with milk in it, put it on top of yogurt, eat it plain as a snack, or sprinkle it on top of a dessert.
Granola
10 cups quick oats
3 cups graham cracker pieces (this was 1 1/2 packs of Honey Maid)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups coconut
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped pecans
3 sticks of butter (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup peanut butter chips (I tried some with chocolate chips… it was better ???? )
Melt the butter and mix with dry ingredients.
Divide between 2 large baking sheets. I did it on 3 baking sheets… the vertical one is chocolate chips and peanut butter chips mixed, the horizontal one in the back is peanut butter chips and the one in front is chocolate chips.
Bake at 300 for 40 min or until golden brown. Stir every 15 min the 1st 30 min, then every 5 min. Add peanut butter chips in the last few minutes of baking time.
I sampled all 3 varieties and liked the one with just chocolate chips the best. I thought the next best was the one with chocolate and peanut butter chips mixed. The one with peanut butter chips was good too, but I will from now on just use chocolate chips and maybe put some peanut butter chips in too if I have some on hand.
And this is how I like to eat it the best: with milk and a spoon…
Comments
10 Responses to “Granola, with normal ingredients”
Glad you like it. I still want to try the choc. chips sometime, but it will have to be at someone else’s house. The peanut butter chips get the rave reviews here.
Grr. i still don’t have all the “normal”
ingredients. I bought some tiny cinnamon chips last week that I want to try.
I make granola all the time. I love mine with coconut and almonds. Yours looks great!
We like granola too, and I make it occasionally, but I’m not sure about the chocolate chips in it. Maybe it would be better than I think. I like the idea of graham crackers, I’ve never heard of that. It sounds wonderful.
Glad you’re telling the “world” about this awesome stuff! Seriously…this granola is so simple & makes a person want to quit dieting. I ate it for breakfast & again for lunch one day.
That recipe is almost identical to mine. Except I use 2 packs of graham crackers, and the original recipe called for 4 sticks of butter, which I can hardly bear, so I’ve cut it back to two. I don’t usually add the nuts, and I use miniature butterscotch chips. I stir them in after I take it out of the oven. I also started adding vanilla to the butter before I stir it into the rest of the stuff. Your right, is is good. In fact, I just made some yesterday.
That granola does look delicious! My family used to make breakfast cereals to sell so I’ve been making granola almost forever!
Anytime you see wheat germ in the recipe you can eliminate it and just add a bit more of one of the other dry ingredients. I always add it because I know it’s good for me and all the bulk food stores in this area have wheat germ at a very reasonable price. The granola that I make currently I’m sure is not as tasty as yours but I’m going for the ‘dieting’ aspect of things. 
Very little butter & sugar….
BTW, my sister in law recently told me about your site and I love it! I live in Ohio and have two little kids, almost 4 and almost 2.
I haven’t made granola for a long time, this makes me hungry for it! The dry ingredients sound similar to my recipe, but mine says oil instead of butter. I think butter would give even more yummy flavor to it. [I tried putting wheat germ in it once & did NOT like the taste of that stuff.:(]
That looks alot like the recipe I sometimes use only it had rice krispies in it. We loved it and now when I try new recipes I just use rice krispies when it calls for anything I don’t like or don’t have. I think the krispies kinda lighten it up when you’re eating a whole bowlful.
I made some of this granola today, and it’s da bomb! I just hope we don’t get “high” on all that butter!! Thanks for sharing the recipe my sister Freida uses, and reminding me to try it.