Lighter Granola Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by- 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Add oats, wheat germ, and walnuts, stirring to combine. Bake until oats are lightly toasted, about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Raise oven temperature to 350 degrees.
• In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, stir together apple juice, sugar, and oil. Pour over oat mixture; stir to combine. Return to oven, and bake until oats are crisp, about 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
• Cool in pan, about 25 minutes (toss with cherries, if desired). Transfer to a container with a tight-fitting lid.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, mix together the oats, light brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir the honey, oil and vanilla extract into the dry ingredients. Use your hands if necessary to make sure it's well combined.
• Spread the mixture in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove from the oven and stir; add the chopped almonds. Return to the oven and bake until everything is toasted and evenly browned, an additional 10 minutes.
• Allow the granola to cool on the baking sheet, then add the dried cranberries and toss to distribute. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Steps:

• TIP: I never buy oat flour. I just dump some oats into my food processor, whiz for about a minute, and then I have oat flour! It's so much cheaper this way and is so easy-to-do.
• Preheat oven to 275°F In a large bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, and Brown Sugar Splenda. Stir to combine. Add the syrup and stir well until the syrup is evenly distributed. Add the melted butter and again stir until all of the oats are evenly coated.
• I like little, crunchy nuggets of granola when I eat it. To make the nuggets, grab a small handful of the granola mixture and firmly squeeze it in your fist to make glob. The mixture should hold together fairly well. Over a rimmed sheet pan, gently break the blob into smaller nuggets. Repeat with the remaining mixture. When finished, you should have a single layer of larger nuggets, smaller nuggets, and loose pieces of oatmeal. Don't move the granola once it is in the sheet pan or the nuggets will fall apart. Some people do not like larger nuggets of granola. If you prefer granola with loose pieces of oats, just dump the granola directly onto a sheet pan after you have mixed everything together. Just give the sheet pan a quick shake to evenly spread everything out.
• Bake the granola for 20 minutes. Take the sheet pan out of the oven and very, very gently stir the granola. You, after all, do not want to break apart the nuggets you made earlier. Put the sheet pan back in the oven for another 8 minutes or so for a lightly toasted granola. If you like your granola really toasted, you can leave it in for several more minutes. Remove it from the oven and leave it in the sheet pan until it has cooled completely. The granola will get crispier as it cools. Toss with your desired mixed dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. Store in a sealed container.
• After you make this the first time, make a note to yourself and decide if you would prefer the next batch to be sweeter or less sweet. I actually prefer my granola less sweet so I often add less Splenda than this recipe calls for. Others have preferred more sugar in theirs. You decide!