Janie’s Luxury Granola

Ingredients

• 500 g jumbo rolled oats or gluten free oats
• 100 g quinoa flakes – see 1st tip
• 250 g mixed raw nuts, not roasted or salted, e.g. hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, almonds, Brazil nuts
• 130 g raisins or sultanas (golden raisins) or a combination
• 50 g dried shredded (desiccated) coconut
• 50 g sunflower seeds
• 50 g sesame seeds
• 50 g pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 50 g linseeds (flax seeds)
• 50 g hemp seeds, hulled (hemp hearts)
• 2 heaped tsp ground cinnamon, approx. 15 g
• 200 g dried apricots
• 120 g coconut oil or avocado oil, preferably cold pressed
• 100 g live dairy whey (see 4th tip to make it easily) or water kefir or kombucha
• 50 g raw (unpasteurised) honey
• 50 g molasses
• 50 g milk, or non-dairy milk of choice
• 1 level tsp fine sea salt or fine pink Himalayan salt
• 500 g filtered water, plus more as needed

Method

1. Place a large bowl on TM lid and weigh into it oats, quinoa flakes, nuts, raisins, coconut and all five seeds, then add cinnamon and stir well with a spatula or wooden spoon to mix evenly. Set aside.
2. Chop apricots 2-15 sec/speed 5 until roughly chopped – timing will vary depending on softness/toughness of dried apricots.
3. Add coconut oil, whey, honey, molasses, milk, sea salt and water, heat 10 min/37°C/speed 3, then pour liquid ingredients over dry ingredients and stir well until dry ingredients are evenly coated. Add extra water as needed so it’s level with the top of the granola mixture (I sometimes need to add up to an extra litre), then set aside to soak for 6 hours.
4. Line dehydrator trays with baking paper or silicon sheets, divide soaked granola mixture onto lined dehydrator trays, spread out evenly, and dry in a dehydrator set at 42°C for 24-36 hours until completely dry and crisp – see tips for oven drying method. Allow dried granola to cool to room temperature then transfer to clean glass jars and close jars with clean lids – I like to use large Kilner jars. Use within 6 months.

Janie’s Tips

1. If you can’t get quinoa flakes, use an extra 100 g jumbo rolled oats.
2. To double the recipe, double all ingredient quantities and use same TM timings and soaking/dehydrating times.
3. If your soaking time was overnight, it’s lovely to serve your family some of the soaked wet granola for breakfast – it’s like a very special Bircher Benner muesli. We love it with grated apple, cream or yoghurt, and fresh berries.
4. To make 100 g live dairy whey, strain 250 g organic live yoghurt (plain/natural) through a nut milk bag or jelly bag or line the TM simmering basket with a double layer of cheesecloth, suspending the bag/lined basket above a measuring jug until 100 ml drains out. The whey is the clear yellow liquid, and the thickened yoghurt left in the bag or cheesecloth is Greek yoghurt.
5. Live dairy whey, water kefir and kombucha are all good sources of probiotics.
6. Janie’s luxury granola dehydrated at 42°C is a probiotic food, which means it will help replenish your good gut bacteria which maintain your immune system. If you choose to dry the granola in your oven instead (see next tip), it will still taste wonderful, however the probiotics won’t survive the higher temperature of the oven, so you could serve Janie’s luxury (oven-dried) granola with live yoghurt to provide some probiotics.
7. In step 4, to dry granola in your oven instead, preheat oven to 120°C without fan/250°F/gas ½ /Aga simmering oven, divide soaked granola evenly between several oven trays then bake 3-6 hours or longer – after 1 hour of baking, stir granola every hour – until completely dry and crisp.
8. This recipe is vegetarian.
9. For gluten free (GF) use use gluten free oats – please read ingredient labels to ensure all your ingredients are gluten free.
10. For dairy free (DF) use water kefir or kombucha instead of whey, and use a non-dairy milk instead of milk – please read ingredient labels to ensure all your ingredients are dairy free.