Thursday, July 30, 2009

Recipe: Slow Cooker Granola

Recently I've been making tons of granola to go with our homemade yogurt. I started with the recipe on the fantastic blog, A Year of CrockPotting. But I have switched it up to fit our tastes, so I'm sharing my version here. By all means, though, check out the original and see if it fits you better!

Slow Cooker Granola

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Ingredients:
10 cups old fashioned oats (avoid burning by not using quick oats!)
1/2-3/4 c. honey
1/2 c. canola oil or other neutral-flavored oil
1/3 c. milled (ground) flax seed
1/3 c. wheat germ
1 1/2 c. chopped, sliced, or slivered nuts (I've tried pecans & almonds-both great)
3/4 c. shredded coconut
1 1/2 c. of any combination of the following: dried fruit (such as raisins, cranberries, etc.) &/or chopped fresh apple
2 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:
1. Put all ingredients in a 5 qt. or larger slow cooker. (Halve the recipe if your slow cooker is smaller.) Please note you can throw whatever you want in there! The oats, honey, and oil are all necessary. Everything else is flexible--play with whatever's in your fridge and cupboards.

2. Grab a cute preschooler and have him or her stir the mixture.

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I think this step might work if you do it yourself, too. (And even if you happen to have a preschooler available, you will probably need to do a more thorough stirring yourself.)

3. Cook on high with the slow cooker lid vented with a chopstick, wooden spoon, etc. (I usually forget to vent it, and it still works--but the granola may be drier/crunchier if you vent.) Stir every 15 minutes to avoid burning--set the timer! Cook until lightly browned, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Determine doneness by color, not by how dry it is--it will dry more when cooled.

4. Pour on sheets of waxed paper to cool. Or turn off the CrockPot, and just let it cool in there. Again, this may affect its ability to dry & crunchify, but I don't mind my granola being a little more on the moist side, and I love cooking shortcuts!

You can eat like cold cereal, with milk; add to yogurt; or just eat it by the handful. Enjoy!

11 comments:

Shannon said...

Chickie's apron is adorable. I've been looking for a little one for J but can't find any that I LOVE. I really want to get matching ones for her and I... The recipe looks yummy! Might have to try it :o)

Call Me Cate said...

I'd have to do it without the coconut (allergic) and the pre-schooler (allergic - I mean, unavailable) but it looks really good! I love the idea of apples in the granola.

Unknown said...

Definitely trying this soon! That looks so yummy....and I have preschoolers and school aged-children. I'll have to let them all have a hand in it ;-)

Janell said...

I've been wanting to make granola but feeling a bit lazy, plus not wanting to heat up the oven/house for that long (110+ heat outside makes the A/C run enough as it is!). So thanks for this crock pot version - I'm going to try it! BTW the blueberry bread looks heavenly too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe. I may have to substitute the cute preschooler with an adorable grade schooler, but that also means less of me having to double check!

Our Scoop said...

Going to try this out again and NOT use the quick-cooking oats! Whoops! :)

beckiwithani said...

Sounds tasty! I want to try this.

caryn said...

Sounds yummy! Your recipes always sound so good! I made the Blueberry Struzel Bread and it was wonderful. Making it again for a little get together tomorrow night.

Fannyfanackapan said...

Oh I am Soooo going to try this recipe. Just need to figure out quarts to litres conversion. :-)

beckiwithani said...

Fannyfanackapan: 1 quart is almost the same as 1 liter/litre. They are interchangeable for a recipe like this. (There are about 950 mL per quart.)

Unknown said...

granola looks great! I've figured out how to comment on your blog!