Crunchy Granola: Everything But the Kitchen Sink (Vegan)

Crunchy Granola

Like most recipes, this recipe has a story and I could go on and on about it.  But I'll try to be brief.
I love to have a crunchy topping on two of my favorite food combinations: (1) Greek yogurt and thawed frozen berries and (2) cottage cheese and unsweetened applesauce.  I recently got some really good roasted & salted Virginia peanuts and I got to thinking that the peanuts might be great in a granola... a slightly sweet and slightly salty granola.

I went to do a Google search for a granola recipe calling for "roasted salted peanuts" but I stumbled across a granola recipe that called for steel cut oats instead of rolled oats. Interesting!

After reading several recipes, I decided to try a recipe that called for steel cut oats and quinoa... things I never put in my homemade granola!

The original recipe, which was my source of inspiration, can be found HERE. I made a number of changes.



If you had to go out and buy all of these ingredients, this granola would be mighty expensive to make, but I have a really well stocked pantry.  I even have a drawer in my refrigerator which exclusively holds granola ingredients (nuts, seeds, coconut).  One thing I've learned from making granola for years is that granola recipes can be very forgiving.  You are basically coating dry ingredients (oats, nuts, seeds) with something wet (honey, syrup, agave, oil) and then drying it all to make it crunchy in a low temperature oven.  So if you don't have sunflower or pumpkin seeds, leave them out or substitute any other seed or nut you have on hand.  You don't like coconut; leave it out.  If you don't have a lot of seeds or nuts on hand, add in more rolled oats.  Just use what you have, use what you like. Also, this recipe as written is not sweet. If you prefer a sweeter granola, add in a little more maple syrup.  You can also add a few tablespoons of brown sugar to the syrup-oil mixture.
Finally, this granola is very loose and is a great topping on my applesauce/cottage cheese combination as you see above.  You will find that this granola does not "clump" into clusters.

A WORD ABOUT QUINOA IN GRANOLA:  I love how my granola turned out but the one texture that is taking some getting used to is the quinoa.  I did rinse and drain my quinoa first (I always do) but I do find the quinoa to have an odd texture which I think is best described as "chalky".  If you are not sure about the quinoa in your granola, feel free to leave it out.

Crunchy Granola with Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled/old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup quinoa (optional), rinsed and well drained
• 1/2 cup steel-cut oats
• 1 cup roasted, salted peanuts 
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup chia seeds 
• 1/4 cup flax seeds  
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup maple syrup; use more if desired for a sweeter granola (may substitute agave nectar or honey)
• 2 tablespoons coconut or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix quinoa, steel-cut oats, peanuts, sun flower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, chia seeds, flax seeds, and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
3. Combine maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla extract in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave until melted together, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
4. Pour syrup mixture over the oat-quinoa mixture; mix well to combine. Spread in an even layer on the baking sheet.
5. Bake in the preheated for 10 minutes; stir.  Bake 10 minutes more; stir.  Turn off the oven and then allow to bake 10 additional minutes with the oven door closed (30 minutes in the oven TOTAL). Let cool completely before placing in an airtight storage container.