Food Friday: Crockpot (Slow Cooker) Granola
First things first—we have a cookbook to give away!
The lucky winner of the EatingWell’s Making Comfort Food Healthy is, according to random.org, number 23!
And the person who left comment #23 is Stacy—the uber mama, photographer, blogger, crafter, seamstress, designer, artist, wine expert and chef—who I know will put this to good use, because she never sleeps. In fact, go to her blog right now, get the dish on polenta, because she is a Food Friday gal as well, and note that she had it posted at 5 a.m. If you live in the midsection of the country, MAKE HER invite you to dinner to try something from this new cookbook. I plan to invite myself the next time I’m in her neck of the woods, right after I ask her to photograph my children and sew me a bag. Congratulations, Stacy, and for the rest of you, I have a fair number of these coming up, so stay tuned and thanks for playing!
And then today’s recipe. I’ve been making versions of this Crockpot Granola for several weeks now, and it disappears as fast as I can make it. I love that it is the ultimate recipe with forgiveness—it doesn’t matter what you put in, it all tastes good. I based mine loosely on the one I found at the fabulous site, A Year of Crockpotting, but have left the confines of that recipe far behind. You will too.
Crockpot Granola
To your crockpot add approximately:
5 cups oats (I get these in the organic bulk bins at Whole Foods, but am tempted to go bigger and get in serious bulk from my local co-op. Anyone want to split a giant bag with me? We put oats in everything—bread, muffins and we eat a lot of granola and oatmeal)
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil (or melted butter)
1 T flax seeds, ground
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup slivered almonds (is that the right word? Slivered? The sliced thin ones are the ones you want)
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
Toss well, and cook on high for 3-4 hours, stirring often. Vent the lid slightly, so you don’t have moist and mushy granola
NOTE: with this ratio of honey and oil (or melted butter) your granola will be in cereal form, and not in clump form. If you are searching for clump-style granola, (and if you are, you are CERTAINLY a person who knows what they want in life) you’ll need to add a total of 1 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of oil or melted butter. But we opt for the lower sugar, lower fat style and the fruit adds so much sweetness that you don’t miss the sugar.
Towards the end of the cooking time, add the fruit. If you add it too soon, it tends to stick and burn.
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup dried fruit (I use raisins, cranberries and/or apricots, depending on what I have on hand.)
Remember, it will burn if you don’t stir regularly, but not the way oven-made granola can burn! There are tons of other things to add here, too, other nuts, pumpkin seeds…any other ideas? This is also a good base for gorp or trail mix—then you get to add m&ms or chocolate chips and call it a snack.
It’s good warm or cold. I keep it in a large, wide-mouth glad jar with a screw-top lid. I don’t know how long it lasts, because it never lasts that long!
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Anna Sawin is a Connecticut-based portrait, wedding, and editorial photographer. She lives in the shoreline town of Stonington with her family and has discovered the perfect cupcake. Just ask, she is willing to share her secret.
Big fan of granola.
yumo! I was just thinking this morning I should make my toasted oatmeal…but this is even easier and alows me to make a BIG batch!
Congrats, Stacy. 🙂
Thanks so much, Anna! You can invite yourself over anytime. 🙂 Oh, and don’t give me too much credit for 5am…I usually set my posts to go at that time, since I write them when I can. I actually wrote it at 11:30 last night. 😉
I am going to make that granola, too. That sounds so yummy!
H&W–this is actually just what I was looking for. I had heard of this method, but didn’t really believe it would work out as nicely as the oven/sheet pan method. However, I completely trust your judgment. And so here I go.
I use coconut oil as the fat in my granola for the complete 1970s feeling.
I DO want to share a giant farm sack of oats with you. Yes! Does this store also sell sacks of King Arthur white whole wheat flour? I would go in on that too. What is this miracle store of which you speak? And could we divvy it up discreetly on Sunday, without attracting the attention of others who might barge in on the deal?
And do you really want that scoby? (Pretty scary looking–getting bigger & bigger! Only for the brave!
This might be the crazy thrifty gene kicking in, but I can see that KA Flour will give me 20% off my order of $50 worth of anything–so if this is White Whole Wheat flour, it will be under $4/ 5lbs….but then the shipping is $12.
You wouldn’t want to split this order, would you?
(Wouldn’t come in time to swap on Sunday anyway.)
But let me know.
You could have the free brownie mix that they are including. No–never mind–your brownies are too good. I’m keeping it. No. We’ll split it!
I’m all over this. I made the slow cooker chicken pot pie today and Elle LITERALLY kept saying “mmmm…mmmmm” with every bite of it at dinner tonight. Hell, I made the morrocan chicken the night before. LOVED IT.
Hi, Anna!
Thanks for the comment on my blog! I agree, we all seem pretty equipped with energy after “Spread the Love!” It was such a privilege meeting everyone- even if I was a little intimidated by others’ amazing work. 🙂
I love your header photo of the little feet! So sweet. I’d love to know what camera you use, lenses, etc. Feel free to email me anytime- betsyphoto1@gmail.com.
Great job on the ‘real’ website, by the way. At this point I’m relying on the blog only. Maybe someday! Thanks again for stopping by!
ok. i just started my granola. i accidentally dumped in about a half cup of ground flax seeds. is this going to taste terrible? do they even taste of anything? i have never noticed a taste. anyway. if i have wrecked it, and you read this, will you let me know so i don’t stay up until 1:00 tending the pot, only to wind up with something inedibly flaxy?
just peeping in to say i’m making this again–thanks for it!