Apple Granola
Well, I am in a mood to try out various modifications to the basic granola recipe 🙂 You might have already sensed that after reading my chocolate granola post. If you haven’t tried that yet, you guys are surely missing something. Please do try it. I can assure you that your kids are going to love it for sure. As I was reading through various blogs, I came across a granola recipe which uses pumpkin puree. So, I thought why not try it with Apple puree or apple sauce.
I had made it few days ago for the first time to check it’s shelf life. Honestly speaking, I was a bit skeptical about the shelf life. But trust me, it stayed well for over three weeks. So, now I am ready to share this recipe with you all. As I have said in my earlier post on granola, you can omit any ingredient or add whatever you like. The choice of dry fruits, nuts and seeds is purely personal and depending upon availability. If you aren’t a cinnamon hater, please do not skip the cinnamon powder. After all cinnamon and apple is a match made in heaven 🙂
You can skip the ragi flakes and add jowar or barley flakes instead or simply skip it. Make sure that you guys use a good quality rolled oats and not the instant ones. I have tried Jiva, True elements and Urban platter. They are all good. As always, I have used my 240 ml cup. Ensure that the dry ingredients are fully coated by the liquid ingredients. If the mixture looks too dry, add a spoon or two of water. You can skip the ghee residue and add any flavourless oil or ghee or butter. Surely, the ghee adds a better crunch than the fat free granola recipe posted earlier. So, what are we waiting for? Buy some apples and make this as soon as possible 🙂 And do not forget to share your experiences, feedback and queries in the comments section.
And lastly, if you think I am going to stop with this flavour, then you are sadly mistaken my dear friends 🙂 I have already thought of few more variations. Please stay tuned …
Ingredients:
- Rolled oats 2 1/2 cups
- Ragi flakes 1/2 cup
- Cinnamon powder 1-2 tsp
- Apples 2 (medium)
- Ghee/ghee residue 2 tbsp
- Honey 2 tbsp
- Raisins 2-3 tbsp
- Black currants 2-3 tbsp
- Cranberries 2-3 tbsp
- Almonds 3-4 tbsp
- Sunflower seeds 2 tbsp
- Flax seeds 2 tbsp
- Chia seeds 2 tbsp
- Pumpkin seeds 2 tbsp
- Melon seeds 2 tbsp
Method:
- Wash the apples and peel the skin. Chop it roughly.
- Add around one fourth cup of water and cook the apples till it’s soft and mushy. If desired, you may add one or two tablespoons of sugar or jaggery. Cool and keep aside. I haven’t added any.
- Take a big mixing bowl and add the oats to it. Now add chopped almonds and all seeds.
- In a bowl, mix the apple sauce, honey, ghee or ghee residue, a pinch of salt and cinnamon.
- Pour this into the prepared oats mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Meanwhile preheat the oven with both rods and fan mode on at around 150-160 degree Celsius for atleast ten minutes.
- Line a big baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Transfer the oats mixture into the prepared baking sheet and spread it evenly. Sprinkle the ragi flakes and incorporate it well.
- Place the tray preferably at the lower rack of the oven or on the rack above it.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or till the nuts and oats look golden and crunchy.
- Stir carefully during every ten minutes.
- Make sure that you do not let the oats burn. It might be a bit soft while hot, but will eventually turn crisp and crunchy on cooling.
- Take the tray out of the oven and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Now add the cranberries, black currants and raisins to this mixture and toss.
- Store in good airtight container (preferably glass or a good quality plastic). This will stay fresh crispy n crunchy for 2-3 weeks.
- Enjoy it with a glass of cold or hot milk.
