I'll try anything once ...

... as long as it doesn’t potentially cause pain or death. No one ever accused me of being a daredevil. But I do love the challenge of trying to create something I might otherwise be required to buy.

Do you like granola? My family does. We enjoy it as cereal, snack bars and in trail mix.

I recently became aware that people actually make their own granola. Since it is a bit pricey at the store, I thought I would try making it myself. Most recipes I found called for baking the granola in a slow oven, but I also found a recipe using a slow cooker. That caught my attention, so I decided to try it.

I’ll tell you how to make it, and then I’ll share our review.

Slow Cooker Granola

5 cups old-fashioned (rolled) oats
¼ cup butter or oil
½ cup honey
1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup dried fruit
¼ cup unsweetened coconut

Assemble your ingredients.

Pour in the oats, oil, honey, flaxseed, cinnamon and almonds. Mix well.


Vent the lid slightly using a small object. I used a metal skewer. This prevents moisture from building up inside the slow cooker and causing mushy granola.


Turn the slow cooker on high, and cook for 3-4 hours, stirring often to prevent burning. (I set a timer to stir every 15 minutes.)

Add your fruit and coconut about 30 minutes toward the end of the cooking time.

When the granola is toasty enough for your standards, pour it out to cool. Store in an airtight container. Since this is my first time making it, I don't know how long it will keep. We'll probably eat it before that will be a concern.


Enjoy!

This is a versatile recipe. You can substitute the fruit and nuts. I used dried cranberries and raisins. Ground flaxseed isn’t necessary. I thought I had some from a previous bread recipe, but I didn’t. I don’t know that it would make that much of a difference in taste or texture.

Everything I read indicated the proportions of oil and honey called for would make this more of a cereal-type granola. If you want clumpy granola, you need to at least double the oil and honey, which I did. Maybe I did something wrong, but my granola still turned out like cereal.

The slow cooker I used cooks hotter than the other two I own, so I ended up cooking my granola longer than was necessary. The result was that it was toastier (but not burned) than I would have liked. Next time I'll watch the color more than I'll watch the clock.

However, the granola tasted good and had a good crunch. My family thought it was good, too. And if my sometimes picky husband ate it for breakfast, it can’t be too bad.

Is this an economical recipe? For me, yes. Because I cook from scratch, I keep a well-stocked pantry. So I had all the ingredients on-hand. If you had to go buy all the ingredients just to make the granola, I think you’d be better off just buying it.

The good thing is, if you choose to buy all the ingredients, you can easily find them at discount grocery stores. The flaxseed may be a bit more difficult to find, but I think I have seen it at Wal-Mart. And I buy honey at Big Lots, Aldi or Save-A-Lot. It costs much less than at the regular grocery for the same size bottle.

If you try it, let me know what you think.

Thanks for visiting! Have a great weekend!