Deliciously easy granola with oats, selection of seeds, coconut, dates, cinnamon and maple syrup baked until just toasted and stored away to make those breakfasts worth waking up for  

Weekend breakfasts in our house fall in two different camps: the hurried no time to stop or the let’s drag out the morning for as long as possible. The latter being much preferred when it’s a beach hut breakfast. However on either type of breakfast, granola can often be featured.

Lately I’ve been feeling a tad miffed when it comes to paying crazy prices when buying a box of granola only to find it’s nearly all gone after a big family breakfast and it wasn’t cheap in the first place! So I thought surely I could make our own? After a few disasters (overcooking) I think I have found the answer.

I’ve leant the secret is in the ratio of oats to fruit to nuts and seeds plus the cooking time. It’s a little like cooking cookies, you need to undercook and take out of the oven when just as its starting to colour. Anything more and you can’t save it and it’s fit or the bin.

I like the amount of seeds and fruit to be quite high but not over the top and I do like the warmth from cinnamon. Come summer I might add less but this blend tastes heavenly when added to a fruit crumble topping.

Of course you can change the type of dried fruit you use and change the seeds and used too but I find keeping to this ratio gives you the right amount of flavour and texture that shop bought varieties can’t.  So far I haven’t added nuts but should you do, please let me know how it turns out.

Date and Maple Granola

350g rolled oats
50g sesame seeds
80g sunflower seeds
100g pumpkin seeds
100g soft dates, chopped
60g desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons rapeseed oil
1 tablespoons coconut oil
80ml maple syrup
60g runny honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 140C/325F/Gas Mark 3

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

In a small saucepan, melt the coconut oil and add the remaining wet ingredients.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix well.

Turn out on to two shallow baking trays and spread out.

Place in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes and toss the granola every to ensure even cooking.  Halfway through swap the trays over.

Once cooled completely place into a large jar and this will keep for 8 weeks.

Like baking cookies, it is best to remove the granola from the oven when it looks undercooked otherwise once at overcooked/tawny brown stage it is fit for the bin and nothing else!

Here’s beach hut breakfast treat for you here – Egg Bacon, Cream Cheese Bagel.