Easy homemade Maple Granola

A friend of mine gave me her recipe for granola a while back: 1 big round box of oats, 1 cup of maple syrup and 1 cup of olive oil, and I've been making it ever since. But since I buy organic oats in bulk, I never quite got the proportions right. Sometimes I don't put enough maple syrup and it comes out rather dull, other times I put too much olive oil and it comes out greasy. I swore I would figure it out systematically, but it took a few years to actually do it AND write it down.

But I finally figured it out: 4 (generous) cups of oats, 1/2 cup of maple syrup and 1/2 cup of olive oil. I often make a triple batch: 12 cups of oats, 1 and 1/2 cups each of maple syrup and olive oil. Then mix it all together, spread it out on two cookie sheets, and bake at 225°F for an hour and a half. I use the Convection Bake option on my oven, which turns on a fan that helps make the granola crispier. I also leave the granola in the oven until the oven and the granola cool down. This also helps with the crispiness.

Store in air-tight jars.



I like mine plain, but it's also good with sunflower seeds, nuts, raisins, cranberries, bits of peach or raspberries. Ooh, and my personal favorite is to eat it with plain yogurt and maple syrup.

I did try to grow my own oats this year, and they did really well right up until the moment when the turkeys came and ate them all. Sigh.