Homemade Maple Granola with Walnuts, Dates and Pomegranate infused Dried Cranberries

I’m new to the homemade granola trend but admit I’ve bought a fair share of granola bars for my kids when they were growing up. Though they seemed to like them I could never get onboard with them for myself but admit because they included the world ‘granola’ I convinced myself that they were somehow good for them. I’m not going to beat myself up now if that wasn’t true but after recently making my own batch of maple granola with my choice of fruits and nuts for the first time; I could beat myself up for not having done this before. Easy hardly qualifies for the effort and the results? Well, nothing I’ve ever purchased from any store can compare to a granola that I make with my pick of ingredients that I love. And I’ve been loving this for breakfast with yogurt and fresh fruit. Loving it a lot!

I’m relatively new to yogurt pretty much the same way I’m new to granola. I never got yogurt either; by that I don’t mean I never bought it but like the granola bars my experience was prepared servings with fruit and flavor combinations my children liked; for me it was never anything special.

Enter Greek yogurt. The difference is visual and certainly palatable. Creamy and rich and I’m in love with it. I’ve been using Greek Yogurt for some time in recipes when sour cream or mayonnaise is called for with great results. My daughter Lauren recently introduced me to The Greek Gods Yogurt with Honey. OMG…Oh My Greek! Subtle but amazing.

I recently won a case of Chobani Greek Yogurt and asked for the honey yogurt. It was good but the honey was far too subtle after falling in love with The Greek Gods brand. The fat content is a bit high though so I either indulge in my fave or add a bit more honey to the Chobani brand if lower fat is my mantra of the day! They are both typically in my fridge and one or the other is now a breakfast staple.

I’ve been buying my granola mix from Sunflower Market and while happy enough with it; after a snow storm last week had me decide to not go out, I recalled that someone had tweeted the basic recipe for granola recently and decided to give it a shot. I had never actually put together that while called granola…it’s really just baked oatmeal. And other stuff. Good stuff!

I made my first batch last week and it was just OK. Only OK because I believe I may have used a container of Quick Oatmeal and wondering if that is why the edges started to burn at the recommended time; which resulted in my having to pitch way too much from that cookie tray. Even then the part deemed good enough to keep was a bit too brown. I’ve eaten some of it but decided it was a great treat for my pup and it was time to try again.

Most recipes call for honey and canola oil but I wanted to try maple syrup with walnut oil and got creative with an assortment of other goodies too. That’s what I love…you follow a basic recipe for the oats, some liquid and seasonings and can really go nuts (literally) with your own ingredients. I love dates and am just obsessed with the new Craisins that are infused with pomegranate juice so this batch will include those. I decided to add some spices too so cinnamon and nutmeg both went in the mix. I also included some sunflower seeds and sesame seeds but I’ve seen flax and dried apricots and dried blueberries and, well, the opportunities are endless!

It was somehow a bit prophetic that I made my first batch of homemade granola the day after meeting another local blogger from Boulder; you know Boulder of the hippy, granola, earth child reputation! Really; I promise, @BoulderLocavore (http://boulderlocavore.blogspot.com) did not make it a requirement of our new friendship!

Tagged as: dates, dried cranberries, granola, maple, pomegranate, sesame seeds, Sunflower Seeds, walnut oil, walnuts