Recipe: Homemade Breakfast Granola

I've never been much of a breakfast person (or a morning person at all really) but they do say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, don't they? Lately I've been trying to eat something in the mornings that's a little more exciting than toast and doesn't require getting up an hour earlier to prepare. I recently had a go at making my own granola and it's the perfect breakfast for a weekday morning, even if you're in a rush. Make it in advance and store it in an airtight container, and you'll be good to go for the next couple of weeks. It's also really easy to customise it, so you can throw in whatever you fancy or whatever you have in the cupboard at the time. Just make sure your ratio of dry to wet ingredients stays approximately the same and you can put in whatever you like! I used a set of American "cups" (these Russian doll measuring cups, in fact) but you can just use a regular mug or cup - no need to faff about with scales.

You Will Need:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup of nuts/seeds (I used pecan nuts and sunflower seeds)
1 cup dried fruit (I used sultanas and cranberries)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup syrup (I used maple syrup, you could also use golden syrup or honey)
1/4 cup soft brown sugar
Pinch of salt

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Add the rolled oats to a large bowl.
2. Chop the nuts/seeds if necessary, and add them to the oats. I added the whole pecans to my blender and 'pulsed' it (euughhh what a horrible word!) for a few seconds to roughly chop them, and just added the sunflower seeds whole.
3. Add the oil, syrup, brown sugar and salt to the bowl and mix everything to make sure it is well combined.
4. Tip the oat mixture on to two baking trays. Make sure they're spread quite thinly so the mixture will crisp up in the oven.
5. Add the trays to the oven and check after 10 minutes. Give them a good stir and put back for another 10 minutes. Keep doing this until everything is golden brown and the mixture is dry and crispy. It should take around 30 to 40 minutes, but it will just depend on your oven/how much mixture you have etc. so keep an eye on it.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Stir through the dried fruit, and transfer to an airtight container.

This recipe makes enough for around 1-2 weeks worth of servings. My favourite way to serve it is with natural yoghurt, some fresh berries and a little drizzle of maple syrup. It's rather good, even if I do say so myself. Coming from someone who doesn't like cereal, I think that's pretty high praise!

P.S. How cute is the heart-shaped plate* from Next? I wish all my kitchenware was heart-shaped! Sadly the serving glass is not quite so cute. In fact, I accidentally "stole" it from a nightclub a few years ago - true story.

What's your favourite thing to have for breakfast?

Gillian x