Granola in the Most Parfait Way

As this is my very first post (and thus feeling slightly pressured), I thought I should blog about something that I really, truly love. One of my absolute favourite things to eat is parfait. I actually eat it everyday; you could say it’s an obsession. I could probably blog just about parfait… but I won’t, for my desire to gain rather than lose readers. After buying granola for so long I decided to try making my own. I’ve seen a few recipes and cooking shows on it and experimented a bit to come up with my own method. You don’t really need to follow a recipe, but I made one just for the sake of it. It’s really simple and fast, with a fantastically delicious result!

Maple Granola

2 cups Rolled oats

2 cups Puffed rice cereal (rice krispies)

½ cup Slivered almonds

1/3cup Maple syrup

½ cup Apple juice

¼ cup, 2 tbsp Brown sugar, divided

1 tsp Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350C.

Start by mixing together the rolled oats, puffed rice cereal and slivered almonds in a large bowl. Next pour the apple juice into a pot over medium heat. Add the maple syrup, ¼ cup of brown sugar and the cinnamon to the pot. Stir and heat until the brown sugar and cinnamon have dissolved. Turn off the heat and slowly add the liquid to the dry ingredients, while mixing them all in the bowl. Once the dry ingredients are evenly coated and are starting to clump together, carefully empty the bowl onto a baking tray. Spread the mixture out so that the tray is evenly covered and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and carefully redistribute the granola to ensure that it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick to the tray. Return it to the oven for another 8 minutes. If the granola is starting to brown and crisp then it’s done. Remove from the oven and let cool. It will firm and crisp up as it dries. It is important not to over cook it, because it will start to lose its flavour easily. Store in an airtight container.

Try adding a variety of mix-ins like dried cranberries, raisins, or chocolate chips.