This lovely crunchy granola is a very satisfying breakfast as well as a great snack. It’s called Janie’s Luxury Granola because it is made with a wealth of delicious nuts, seeds and dried fruits, all properly prepared. Soaking all the grains and nuts before drying increases the nutritional content and the granola becomes much easier to digest – all it needs is a bit of time and patience to reap these happy tummy rewards. I like to dry my granola at low temperature in a dehydrator to make the granola into a probiotic food, or you could oven bake it – see 6th and 7th tips.
My Mum used to make crunchy granola when I was growing up and we would always be excited when the fragrance of cinnamon wafted out from the kitchen. I have added to her recipe over the years to make it my own, and it is now a favourite in two more generations. By the way, you can easily make it gluten free and/or dairy free – see 9th and 10th tips. We like to have it with Greek yoghurt or coconut yoghurt and chopped fresh fruit or a homemade apple purée.
This amount of Janie’s Luxury Granola is good for 1-4 people for occasional breakfasts. If your family is larger or you eat a lot of granola, the recipe is easily doubled – I always made a double quantity when my children were hungry growing teenagers!
This recipe is suitable for Thermomix TM6, TM5 and TM31.
Method
- 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.
- Chop apricots 2-15 sec/speed 5 until roughly chopped – timing will vary depending on softness/toughness of dried apricots.
- 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.
- 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.