Vegan cooking is so much fun and I get very excited when I have a recipe that is absolutely at it's best vegan. Now, when that is confirmed by well know food bloggers such as David Lebovitz or Orangette or Cafe Fernando then - well that is pure nirvana.
That is the case with granola - such a simple thing available in the bulk section of every health food store, yet nothing beats a really good homemade granola with soy milk. Yes, it tastes better with soy milk. I have been making it for a long time but have never added apple sauce to it. Adding fruit puree to granola is an interesting addition since you can eliminate most of the oil that is normally added and that, of course, makes it much healthier. So I took the advice of the above well know bloggers and I was very happy with the result.
My version is less sweet so if you enjoy a sugar high with your granola definitely check out the recipes of the afore-mentioned bloggers. Also remember, that a granola is not set in stone, you have a grain or grains, nuts, seeds, a spice or two, oil and sweeteners. You can also add any number of other goodies such as dried fruit, coconut or if you are a health freak, how about wheat germ, oat bran, flax sprouts or maybe you could even try Jola's sea veg recipe.
Now when you make your granola and it's absolutely delicious, what do you think will happen? Molly in her Orangette blog did warn me. She mentioned that everybody and their mother will want you to send them some.
Sure enough Jola has asked me to send some granola with her next shipment of MacroTreats, so I quickly wrote this blog and e-mailed her that she could now make it herself.
The response was "but, Mom, it doesn't taste the same when I make it".
Ingredients
5 cups rolled oats
2 to 3 cups raw almonds
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
¾ cup sesame seeds
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
¾ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp. walnut oil
Preheat the oven to 300°F. You will need two racks.
In two bowls combine separately the dry and the wet ingredients. Mix both really well and then pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and stir well. Spread the mixture out on two baking sheets and bake for 35 minutes. Stir the granola a couple of times during the 35 minutes just to make sure that it browns evenly. You will know it's ready when all the moisture has been absorbed and it's nice and crunchy.
Take it out, stir and let it cool. I keep mine in a large glass jar and it's usually gone in a couple of weeks but you can also store in an airtight container in the refrigerator indefinitely.
