This is my favourite granola, I think it’s so much nicer than any you can buy in the supermarket. It’s absurdly easy to make, and endlessly adaptable; if you’re into all the superfoods you can fill it with goji berries, hemp seeds and acai (for example), or you can swap the pistachios, pecans and almonds for any other nuts. The cranberries can be swapped for raisins or any other dried fruit, and if you like tropical flavours you could add banana chips, dried mango and pineapple. Personally, I’m not a raisin lover, but I love the tart kick you get from dried cranberries, so I’ve used them here. The only hard and fast rules I would say are to use light olive oil (extra virgin will be over-powering and make it bitter), make sure your nuts are all raw (not salted or roasted etc), and add any dried fruit at the end, once it’s cooled.
Cranberry & Pistachio Granola
Use a small mug as your measure. This will make a big jar (depending on the size of your mug – use an espresso cup if you want a small amount)
Ingredients
- 55g caster sugar
- 55g unsalted butter, cold & cubed
- 80g whole almonds, roughly chopped
- 40g candied mixed peel
- 10g cocoa nibs
- 55g plain flour
- 180g dark chocolate, roughly chopped2 mugs rolled oats
- 2/3 of a mug sunflower seeds
- 2/3 of a mug pumpkin seeds
- 1 mug pecans
- 1/2 a mug almonds
- 1 mug pistachios
- 1/3 of a mug light brown sugar
- 1/2 a mug desiccated coconut
- Pinch salt
- 1/3 of a mug olive oil
- 1/3 of a mug runny honey
- 1/3 of a mug dried cranberries55g caster sugar
- 55g unsalted butter, cold & cubed
- 80g whole almonds, roughly chopped
- 40g candied mixed peel
- 10g cocoa nibs
- 55g plain flour
- 180g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Directions
- Heat the oven to 150’c fan and line a baking tray with parchment.
- In a mixing bowl, combine everything except the cranberries. Mix well (easiest if you use your hands) until everything is wetted by the honey and oil. Add a touch more oil if there are still dry bits.
Spread the mixture out over the baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, turning it all over and mixing it about half way through the cooking time. It should be really nicely golden all over when it is ready – give it a few minutes extra if necessary. - Allow it to cool, then add the cranberries and toss them through. Store in airtight jars at room temp.
