NW grain free granola.jpg
 
grain free granola image.jpg
 

This granola is great as a snack or quick dessert with some yogurt and fresh fruit.  Somehow, it never falls into the breakfast food category.  But, we won’t begrudge you if you decide to have it for breakfast.(Adapted from the Homemade Pantry, by Alana Chernila)

Yield: 8 cups


Ingredients

  • 1 cup sesame seeds, raw

  • 1 cup sunflower seeds, raw

  • 1 cup pumpkin seeds, raw

  • 2 cups sliced or roughly chopped almonds, raw

  • 2 cups roughly chopped walnuts or pecans, raw

  • 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

  • ½ tsp sea salt

  • 2 tbsp ceylon cinnamon, ground

  • ½ cup coconut oil (you may need to warm up a bit to turn it into a liquid)

  • ¾ cup maple syrup

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1 tsp almond extract

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 250.  Position the racks in the upper ⅔ of the oven.

  2. Combine the seeds, nuts, shredded coconut, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Stir until the contents are uniformly mixed.  In a quart measuring cup, whisk together the oil, maple syrup, vanilla and almond extracts, to make a uniform syrup.  Pour this mixture into the bowl.  Stir until everything is coated and there are no hidden pockets of syrup or dry ingredients in your bowl.

  3. Line two 18x13-inch jelly roll pans with parchment paper.  Spread the granola in an even layer on each pan.  Put the trays in the oven and set your timer for 30 minutes.  Shuffle the granola, switch the trays and rotate them.  Set your timer for another 30 minutes.  Do the shuffle, switch and rotate procedure again and wait another 30 minutes.

  4. At the end of the full 90 minutes of baking, turn off the oven but leave the granola there for up to 6 hours.  It will harden and crisp as the oven cools.  Enjoy!