I love granola. It used to be my daily breakfast, no questions asked. And then I realised its sugar content. So I dialed it back and served just a spoonful atop plain Greek yoghurt. A satisyfing crunch without all the extra sugar. But as part of an experiment, I’ve been cutting out as much added sugar (and all processed sugar) as possible. It’s been this exercise that made me realise just how much sugar is in everything, especially granola. So I turned to a friend who uses only the best ingredients and limits the sugar, and she presented me with this easy, tasty, touch-of-sweetness recipe.
You can follow the recipe by the book or you can do what I did and use it as a guideline. I used more nuts than it called for and almost no dried fruit (because sugar). I went with a 1/3 cup of maple syrup (because sugar). The result? A delicious, healthy, lower sugar granola that makes me wonder why I didn’t do this years ago.
Ingredients
4 cups rolled oats
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup dried fruit
1 cup nuts
5 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. real vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 – 1/2 cup real maple syrup or honey
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
Instructions
Preheat oven to 150°C
Mix oats, cinnamon, salt, fruit and nuts in large bowl
In a separate bowl, whisk together maple syrup or honey, oil, egg whites, vanilla, and salt until smooth
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir; make sure dry ingreidents are well-coated. Split mixture between several oiled baking sheets (it will depend on how large your sheets are). Spread evenly and press down firmly into a single-layer thin donut shape for even baking.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes until granola is golden brown and crisp. Cool for 15 minutes on baking sheet before breaking into clusters.
