Only one week until Christmas! Are you on sugar overload yet? Today I am calming it down and sharing a healthy holiday treat-homemade granola.
At my office, we have a healthy food policy. We are not supposed to bring in unhealthy food items to share and when we serve food at meetings we have to provide healthy options. It is nice that we don’t have donuts, candy, cookies, etc. around every corner. They actually put puzzles out so there’s no room for goodies on the tables.
Of course, some people sneak in treats, but I wanted to support the policy. Instead of bringing in my cookies, I made homemade granola for my co-workers. I love making granola-it is easy and there are so many tasty variations. I love eating it with our homemade yogurt too.
This time I kept it pretty basic. I used rolled oats, wheat germ, cinnamon, and coconut as the base. I whisked together honey, brown sugar, canola oil, and vanilla and poured it over the oat mixture. I got down and dirty and mixed everything together with my hands-kids would love to help with this part, just make sure they have clean hands:)
I baked the granola on two large baking sheet pans. I stirred the granola frequently. When it was done baking, I added dried cranberries and chopped up cinnamon roasted almonds. It smelled fantabulous!
After the granola cooled, I packaged it into cute little bags with ribbons. If you are looking for a healthy holiday gift, try my homemade granola. I am sure your loved ones will appreciate a break from all of the sweets:)
Looking for more homemade gift ideas? Here are a few of my favorites:
Homemade S’mores
Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
Caramel Corn
White Chocolate Holiday Bark
Oreo Truffles
Homemade Granola with Coconut, Dried Cranberries, and Almonds
Ingredients
- 4 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup wheat germ
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped cinnamon roasted almonds regular almonds would be fine too
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.
- In a large bowl, mix the oats, coconut, wheat germ, salt, and cinnamon together. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. The honey and brown sugar will make the mixture thick, but that is ok. Just whisk it really well.
- Pour half of the honey mixture over the oats mixture, in the large bowl. Use your hands to combine them, yes it will be sticky and messy, but oh well, it is fun! When it is well mixed, pour the other half of the honey mixture, and mix with your hands again. Make sure all of the oats are covered.
- Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets. Spread it out evenly. If you like "clumps" in your granola, squeeze together some of the oats. Put the pans in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. (I had one sheet on the top rack and one on the bottom rack). Take the baking sheets out and stir the granola.
- Put the pans back in the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. I switched the pans around so they were getting even top and bottom time:)
- After the ten minutes, take the pans out again and stir. Rotate the pans and bake for 5-7 more minutes.
- Stir in the dried cranberries and almonds. Let the granola cool completely on the baking sheets. Once cooled, package it up or store in an air tight container for about a week.
Have you tried this recipe?
Leave a comment below and share a photo on Instagram. Tag @twopeasandpod and hashtag it with #twopeasandtheirpod
If you like this granola, you might also like:
Honey Cinnamon Granola from Two Peas and Their Pod
Mix-n-Match Applesauce Granola from Baking Bites
Blueberry Granola from Andrea’s Recipes
Honey Maple Granola from SugarLaws
Love granola! I actually have plans to make two varieties next week to bring to my parents. Enjoy your weekend!! Any fun plans?
I’m always making granola for myself (love it!) I really should make up a batch to give, so much better than bad for you treats 🙂
Coconut granola is my most favorite granola. I love it!
I love homemade granola but I don’t make it often enough. I love the idea of adding the cinnamon almonds. YUM! Bet it is so good with your homemade yogurt and fruit.
my company should probably adopt a policy like that, but then i’d end up eating the majority of the stuff i make and that would be bad. very bad. great idea, though, taking in granola!
I’ve been looking for a homemade granola recipe. I’ll give this a go. It looks terrific!
Homemade granola can’t be beat!
Cheers,
Rosa
yum, your granola looks so good! I love homemade granola. Great idea about giving it as gifts – I think people would really appreciate it!
If we had a policy like that at my office, there would be anarchy in the streets!
I LOVE your granola. I love it for the coconut. I also love it for the lack of raisins!
Love your photos! And I also love making granola. It’s so easy and like you said, it makes a lot–so it’s perfect for gifts! The cinnamon almonds must be so good in there!
I really need to make some of this. My oldest loves Granola and I hate buying it. The good stuff is so expensive! Now I can make it myself!
I love homemade granola, and this recipe sounds awesome!
I’m kind of glad my office doesn’t have that policy — otherwise I wouldn’t have anyone to pawn my baked goods off on!
That’s great that you have a “healthy food policy.” I wish my office had one. This granola sounds so good. Maybe I’ll make some for myself over the Christmas break.
I would die at your office. Making treats to share is the only way I get to eat them!
Your granola looks terrific! i need to make this more often.
Thank you for the great recipe! I’ve been looking for a great granola!
Wonderful. I wonder if I could use agave to make this. That’s an interesting office policy.
I love granola. This looks divine with the coconut, almonds and cranberries! Maybe you could bring this to the cabin?
Although I love me a darn good cookie, I LOVE granola, probably even more.
The last batch I made I over baked a bit and am still eating it anyway. Hate it when that happens.
You’re REALLY convincing me to make those darn cinnamon almonds! 😉
(Thanks for you FB thoughts today!)
Oh that looks so good. Homemade granola is one of those perfect little simple pleasures in life! Love it
I haven’t ever made granola. I think I’ll start in January! Thanks!
I love granola! This looks perfect!
I love granola but somehow, never thought of making it myself. At least, I will be able to make it to my taste (not too sweet, crunchy, nutty, etc.) and it won’t cost me $$$$. The few times I bought some, I serve it with yogurt or apple sauce. It’s a healthy breakfast option! Thanks for the recipe, I’ll make my first batches very soon.
ah! i just found your blog I LOVE IT you’re a baking genius!! can’t wait to make so many of these recipes for the holidays 🙂
Mmmm, your granola looks delicious!
I keep telling myself I am going to make a homemade granola to sprinkle on Greek yogurt!
I hate the overly sweet store bought stuff……your recipe looks terrific.
Happy Holidays Maria!
Stacey
I am not a great granola fan but with the ingredients, you are using, I think I could be.
I think I could go for some of this after all the sweets I’ve been having!
I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning. couldn’t get back to sleep and found I was thinking about cinnamon almonds and granola. Hmmm? I didn’t get up that early, but when I did get up at 7:00, I started the almonds, then the granola. Almonds—DELICIOUS! Granola is cooling but I already tasted it–it’s great! I doubled the batch!!! I will be bagging this up for some holiday treats (and saving some, of course!) Thanks, Maria! Merry Christmas to you!
I have made many different batches of granola over the years and can honestly say that this is the best granola I have ever eaten! I didn’t have whole almonds so I just threw a cup of slivered almonds in the oat mixture before I baked it. Outstanding. I am planning on bagging this up to give to neighbors and friends today, but know I will be making another batch soon. Thanks for the great recipes! Merry Christmas!
these cookies look absolutely amazing!! 🙂 I happen to love coconut-so I will have to try making them for sure!
I just made granola today and will be blogging about it this week. I use coconut oil instead of canola. It really heightens the coconut flavor. Maple syrup is a good change, too, instead of honey.
I put in the search box a granola that was not sweet and everyone is putting honey and brown sugar, if that’s not sweet was is?
this is my favorite granola in the whole world. i make it weekly and share it with friends. i’ve made a LOT of granolas–but none as good as this! thank you for sharing.
So happy you like the granola!
Can you tell me about how much this recipes makes? I am going to make it for Christmas gifts this year and put in quart jars with pretty ribbons on it. I am trying to plan on how many ingredients I need to purchase and if I need to double (or triple) the recipe. Thanks so much!
It makes about 6 cups-if I remember correctly. It’s been awhile:) Enjoy!
This granola recipe is in a word…awesome! I made it yesterday and I was so very glad I made the time to made those amazing cinnamon roasted almonds too! I followed the recipe, but also added about 1/3 cup each of hemp seeds and white chia seeds. Thank you for your great recipes and wonderful blog!
I am making this right now as a component of some food baskets as Christmas gifts. It smells great and I think it will be a big hit, thanks for the great recipe and lovely website. Happy Holidays!
So far I’ve made so many of your recipes in the past 4 years and they all turned out great!
I’ve made 3 of your Granola recipes:
– Homemade Granola with Coconut, Dried Cranberries, and Almonds (I added Dried Apricots and didn’t have Coconut) – my favourite! It clumped well and wasn’t overly sweet, really tasty on its own and with yogurt!
– Pumpkin Granola (I added Dried Apricots) https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/pumpkin-granola/
I preferred it with yogurt than on it’s own. Nice to have a substitute for the canola oil.
– Brown Butter Maple Granola (I added Dried Apricots and didn’t have Peacans) https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/brown-butter-maple-granola/
I’ve just had some — I think next time I will reduce the brown sugar and maple syrup as the coconut is sweetened. It’s the first time I’ve made brown butter so I’m not sure if it elevated this recipe.
At the moment I have a love/hate relationship with making my own Homemade Granola — I love making it myself rather than buying it as I can know that all the additives/preservatives etc are not included and it’s much cheaper!. I hate the 10 minutes in the oven then stir, then 10 minutes in the oven, then stir business! I love having a jar of homemade Granola — it looks so good and inviting and it’s delicious! And I love gifting it to others too! So it’s not my favourite “Baking Adventure” but it seems worth the extra time and effort and makes me feel a bit more healthy — but then Granola has a lot of sugar — so maybe the Pumpkin and Applesauce Granola is the way to go!
Thanks for the variety of Granola recipes — it’s fun trying them all out!
I’ve had varying success with making my own homemade Granola Bars because my climate is hot and humid a lot of delicious no-bake Granola bars don’t hold up in bar form so I make “Granola Squares” instead!
For Granola Bars/Squares – I prefer “No Bake Bars” — I’ve made some by adapting various recipes but here are the ones I find works best and are my favourites so far —
No Bake Chewy Granola Bars — http://backtothecuttingboard.com/dessert/no-bake-chewy-granola-bars/
Nice and easy to make and customizable
Peanut Butter Granola Bars — https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/peanut-butter-granola-balls/
So so good and addictive!
Love your recipes and I like how your readers post when they make things, that really helps — so I hope this post helps others too. Thanks Maria and Josh! Happy Baking!
I love granola, thanks for the recipe.
Love, love, love this recipe!
Me too:)
Love this recipe for granola!! In fact, all your granola recipes are !!