For this recipe, I'm sharing the secret to my homemade granola. Once you've got the fundamentals down, you can customise this recipe any way you like.

I like nutty granola, so this recipe includes almonds and cashews, but you can easily add dried fruit like raisins or cranberries, which will give a nice sharp element to it. Play around with the type of nuts too - add pecans or pistachios, and try sunflower seeds instead of pumpkin - it's up to you.

Not going to lie, most mornings I have porridge for breakfast because, well, it's warm. But even I have been overheating in the recent weeks, and although I'm not complaining about the glorious summer sunshine we are having, it's just too hot for porridge sometimes 🤷🏼‍♀️

This is where my granola comes in. The oaty, nutty goodness mixed with a good dollop of greek yoghurt hits the spot on a warm, muggy morning. I feel like I need to point out at this point that for the last 3 weeks our house has not been below 27ºC, even with the doors and windows open! #toowellinsulated

Although, on the plus-side, Poppy has been loving life (Poppy is our lizard, whom like me, loves to be warm!). 🦎

Anyway, I digress. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

280g of rolled oats (or 2 cups) 

60g cashews (or 1/2 cup)

50g flaked almonds (or 1/2 cup)

30g pumpkin seeds (or 1/4 cup)

2 tbsp maple syrup or honey & extra for drizzling

2 tbsp coconut oil - we used Vita Coco

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

It's easy to turn this in to a gluten-free recipe - just change your rolled oats for GF ones. To make it a vegan recipe, just use maple syrup rather than honey.

Here’s how you do it

1. Measure your oats in to a large bowl. If you have cup spoons (not sure that's their official name), they are really handy here. If you don't, good old fashioned scales work perfectly too. But seriously, with all the U.S. recipes I look at, measuring cups were a game-changer for me - thanks mum.

2. Add in your nuts and seeds.

3. Now add in the liquid; the maple syrup (or honey), vanilla, and the coconut oil. If your coconut oil has solidified, just pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds or until its liquid enough to spoon out of the jar.

4. Add a pinch of salt and mix well until all of the dry ingredients have been covered with the liquid, and it all looks like it has come together.

5. Pour out on to a baking tray, lined with parchment paper, and spread out the mixture so that there are no large clumps as these won't cook as well.

6. Pop it in the oven at 170ºC for 30 minutes.

7. After 30 minutes, carefully loosen the mixture and stir on the tray. Lightly drizzle a little bit of honey, or maple syrup, on to the surface of the granola and replace in the oven for another 30 minutes.

8. After 30 minutes, turn the oven off, but leave the tray inside until cool.

9. Remove the tray from the oven and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, carefully spoon the mixture in to a sterilised glass jar, or a plastic tub. Make sure to keep a lid on the jar or tub to keep the granola crunchy and at its best.

10. Enjoy with some greek yoghurt and fresh fruit like raspberries. Yum.

Just in case you'd prefer to look at photos of the process:

Hope you all enjoy making (and eating) this recipe as much as I do!

Holly @ The Den