Making granola, like making yogurt or tofu, is a throwback to the Mother Earth News reading, funny cigarette smoking, barefoot live off the land types that we once were. It was an absolutely required skill for the aforementioned lifestyle and no store bought granola ever passed the threshold of our home. Not only was it not cool, it all tasted like crap after my own homemade stuff. Unfortunately, my old recipe had an unbelievable amount of oil, making it very high in fat, and as we get older, we don’t burn off fat so good, so I stopped making it. I tried a couple different store bought low fat kinds but they mostly tasted like cinnamon infused cardboard. Even if you had a wicked case of the munchies, you didn’t want to eat that junk.
Fast forward to a couple years ago, when I ran across mention of Nigella Lawson’s method of using applesauce in place of much of the oil. Did you hear that? That was angels singing my friends. Granola-loving angels, apparently. I was skeptical, because I am not always impressed with the results of this applesauce-for-fat exchanging thing that so many people are fond of. I understand it, I just don’t always love it. But this granola? This, I LOVE! If anything, it is even better than my old granola. Not only does the applesauce turn into a nice crunchy binder for all the different ingredients, but it also imparts a really nice flavor. You don’t get “applesauce” while you are eating it, you just get “delicious” and you don’t care why.
This recipe is very adjustable. Even without all of the fat a traditional granola recipe contains, the coconut and nuts add a fair number of calories, so you can cut those back or make sustitutions if you like. I always used to add raw pepitos, or shelled pumpkin seeds, but I didn’t have any when I made this batch. I will also buy sliced almonds, and use fewer of them. The smaller pieces will distibute throughout better, but I won’t add them until the last 15 minutes, or they will get too brown. I used flaked wheat and barley, instead of just oats too. I like the varied flavor better than just plain old fashioned oats. You can find those in health food stores, and there are plenty of sources online for them.
You need two large baking sheets – I lined them with parchment paper, because I’m lazy and don’t like scrubbing sheet pans much.
In a large bowl, measure out 6 cups of cereal grains. I used 2 cups each of old fashioned [not “quick”] oats, barley flakes and wheat flakes.
1 cup each chopped almonds, pecans and flaked coconut
1/2 cup sesame seeds, 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger. Mix it all together until well blended – I just used my hands.
In a saucepan, measure
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup honey [more if you like a sweeter granola]
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tabespoons vanilla extract
Heat through and stir until completely incorporated. Pour over dry ingredients and mix together until uniformly blended.
Divide evenly between sheet pans and spread out. Bake at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes. You need to keep it stirred around or it will clump too much, so I set the timer for 10 minutes at a time, because other wise I would probably forget. It is done when it’s uniformly browned. It wont crisp up until it cools off. 
As soon as you remove it from the oven, stir in dried fruit. I used 1/2 cup each dried cherries, chopped, dried nectarines and currants. Mix into the cereal mixture, and then let everything cool right on the pans. The residual heat will help meld the fruit into the rest a bit, without getting it all dry and hard.
Granola will keep for weeks in a sealed container. Not that it’s likely to last for weeks. Sit down with a bowl and spoon, the milk of your choice and the latest issue of Mother Earth News. While you enjoy this incredible granola, you can read up on growing some new kinds of veggies next summer, or building a greenhouse maybe. Being barefoot is optional. It’s pretty cold here right now, so I’m wearing heavy socks and slippers.
Trust me – the 70’s didn’t taste this good.
The 70’s had a flavor? This looks yummy. Thanks for the recipe!
YUM!
Yeah, right. Two weeks? More like two days!
Looks awesome.
Or you could mix it up in yogurt!
Even I can make this. I think.
rarr! looks good enuff to eat!
I could not find the grains you use at the grocery. Can you tell me where I can get them online?
That certainly looks delicious, not to mention easy. I’ll bet it smells amazing while itsbaking!
Okay – I love granola but have never really found a recipe that I thought I might like. This one looks like a winner. I just might try this if/when I find the time!
I love homemade granola. It is the best. Love this recipe!
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Thanks everyone – I hope you give it a try!
Brit – I looked and you can get them at nutsonline.com – along with lots of different kinds of nuts and the dried fruit. great company!
How would you address diabetic cooking w/ this-could the honey be cut out, for instance?
Thanks for sharing-I was thinking about homemade granola while looking at the ridiculously priced cereals the other day…
Hi Susan – I’m not a diabetic, but I did pursue a lower glycemic way of eating for quite a while, and I am not sure how granola would fit in. The grains would probably have enough fiber to offset the carbs and of course the nuts would be ok. The dried fruit you would have to be careful about I am sure – there is a lot of concentrated sugar in most dried fruit. As for the honey, it would be worth a try to just increase the amount of applesauce. I would probably cut the recipe down quite a bit – you would not waste so many ingredients if it doesn’t work. Then you could use Splenda or some other artificial sweetener if you wanted it sweeter. It will not be very sweet at all without the honey. Some people have been using agave in place of sugars, but if you Google it, you will find a lot of negative info about it lately. If you make some changes and they work for you, please come back to tell us how it worked – I am sure others would be interested too.
Saw this on tastespotting – and so glad i did! thanks for sharing this great recipe, and beautiful photographs. I will certainly be trying my hand at it soon!
Thanks Jessica – I hope that you enjoy it :)
This looks so good! Love the pepitos idea, I’m thinking some sulfite free dried blueberries might be great in there as well!
Hi Savory – I bet blueberries would be delicious in it. I threw in some pine nuts last time I made it and they were fantastic.
Great post!Love all the 70’s references! :) And I love the idea of the applesauce instead of oil.
Thanks Megan – the 70s references are unavoidable with me. Good grief – 40 years ago? I need some chocolate now…
Looks great, I have tried it but it never really turned out the way I wanted it to, will try this recipe! Thanks Dyln!
fabulous yum!
The high fat content in granola is always a turn-off for me, too. I’m really excited to try making this recipe with applesauce.
Bamboo – the trick is to let it cook long enough, so it gets nice a and crunchy – good luck!
Thanks Claudia :)
CC – I was the same – that Nigella is one smart cookie ;)
Never made granola before. This one looks so healthy and appealing. Looks like a perfect breakfast.
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