Do-it-yourself, low-fat granola

One of the many perks of my boyfriend’s job at a grocery co-op has been an seemingly never-ending supply of Greek yogurt that’s just past its sell-by date, leaving me with more breakfast food than I can shake a spoon at. As Lindsay has noted, one of the best ways to eat Greek yogurt is with a little honey and granola, but unfortunately, grocery-store granolas tend to be high in fat and sugar. The solution? Make it yourself.

Yes, I own more bakeware than one glass bread pan. I just happen to use this one a lot.

I tried a half-batch of this recipe the other day to generally positive results. One of the downsides to using less sugar and oil is that there’s less to coat your granola with and create those lovely clumps, so this probably turned out more like toasted oats than granola. Nonetheless, I spiked it with a little nutmeg and ginger as well as the cinnamon, and it was a spicy, lightly sweet mixture that went just fine on top of my Fage in the morning.  I might try it again and add a bit more maple syrup, though I’d probably keep the oil at the same amount, but overall, I can’t complain too much.

Homemade Low-Fat Granola
From Cooksrecipes.com

• 4 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal, uncooked
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds (I also threw in a few chopped walnuts for variety)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (again, I added a few shakes of ground ginger and nutmeg on top of this)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Stir together oatmeal, almonds, cinnamon and salt, if desired, in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk maple syrup, apple juice and vegetable oil; pour over oatmeal mixture and stir to coat thoroughly.

Spread mixture in an even layer onto a 15×12-inch baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring twice during baking time.

Cool mixture in the pan before adding raisins. Store granola in an airtight container.