Firstly, credit is due. I was planning to test a whole lot of granola recipes over the winter to pick the best one to serve to our guests but I didn't need to, the first one I stumbled upon was Cookie + Kate's - I made it (twice because I misread the recipe & ended up burning the first batch), tried it, loved it, tweaked it, and never looked at another recipe. Because not a week goes by without people asking me for the recipe, I've decided to share it here. (I procrastinated because I'm dreading having to translate it for the French version of our website - mes excuses!) I strayed a little bit from the original and invite you to do the same - this recipe is made to be tweaked to your taste!
Secondly, we buy all of the following ingredients in bulk, in paper bags which we reuse until they end up on the compost, or in massive glass jars that get reused as well, but obviously, you can make this recipe with non-bulk non-zero-waste ingredients too. 🙈 So without further delay: Ingredients: 4 cups of rolled outs (the big flakes) - although an American cup is officially 236ml I use a regular size coffee cup which holds about 300ml & works out just fine.
1/2 cup coconut oil 1/2 cup agave syrup (though you can use honey or maple syrup too of course)
1 tsp salt (shouldn't be omitted but add less if 1 seems a bit much to you!)
1/2 teaspoon or more of cinnamon
a big handful of almonds (or more) - roughly chopped
Optional (to add later on): Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Flax seeds
Coconut flakes
and at the very end when your granola is ready and has cooled completely: Dried cranberries. chopped dark chocolate, or better yet - my favourite - crystallised ginger!
Method:
Heat your oven to 175℃ and line a baking tray with baking paper. (Technically NOT zero waste but I reuse mine so I figured it still counts :))
In a big bowl, mix together the oats, the coconut oil (I fill a cup and put it in the pre-heating oven) and agave syrup.
Add a little teaspoon of fine salt and generously sprinkle ground cinnamon over the mixture.
Chop a big handful of almonds (there's really no upper limit here so go crazy if you want more!) and stir them into the mixture. If it looks too greasy or sticky for your taste, just mix in more oats. This goes onto the lined tray and into the oven for 8 minutes, after which the edges start to get some colour. I take out the tray to stir the granola and at this point you can choose to add more extras. I love the dark green colour of the pumpkin seeds we get from the bulk section in our local organic store so those always get stirred in. I'd say the more the better! Once mixed together the tray goes back into the oven for another 8 minutes or so, after which I stir the edges into the rest of the mixture again, and close the oven door once more for another 5-8 minutes until the granola has a lovely golden colour (this will heavily depend on your oven so stay close by if yours is a powerful one!). Once ready, leave the granola on the tray to cool completely before you mix in the last (more or less) optional ingredients and then store in an airtight container.
Let me know how it goes!