Vegan
Breakfast
Moist Banana Chestnut LoafHow to make the tastiest organic maple granola breakfast cereal with oats, crunchy pepitas, nuts and fruits. Fun recipe by a new cereal blogger!
So, how do you often start the day?
I’m an easy camper, happy with a slice of multigrain toast; or a tartine of toasted baguette with a scraping of good Normandy butter; or sometimes my favourite homemade brioche and jam. If we have more time together as a family on Sundays, the ultimate treat are the flakiest, buttery croissants from the local boulangerie.
Breakfast cereal somehow dropped down the shopping list since I moved to France. Why? The answer is simply Paris; wouldn’t you also be tempted, surrounded by all those amazing bakeries with croissants, pain au chocolats and pain aux raisins, just for morning starters?
It’s confession time: each time I saw homemade granola on friends’ blogs, such as Kim of LivLife’s lovely cinnamon and coconut cereal, I should have picked up on it like a good serial blogger.
My final “Just-do-it” push came via an old thumbed Elle magazine at the orthodontist’s waiting room. One of the only recipes that wasn’t ripped out was for a maple granola, so I tried it. Boy was it overly sweet! Read ridiculously sweet.
Cutting out the Sugar
It took many experiments to come to this to suit our Antoine’s taste – not too many nuts, more oats please, oh I love the graines de courges (pepitas or roasted pumpkin seeds) for that crunch but not too crunchy. The magazine’s recipe has, as a result, changed beyond recognition and its original whopping 140g sugar has now been omitted entirely. You don’t need it; the dried fruits and the maple syrup are naturally sweet. You could use the coconut oil but I honestly prefer it with the neutral oil. So here is our favourite cereal, totally subjective, of course: adapt the quantities and ingredients to your own liking but try this first!
Warning: you’ll discover that this has to be made at least once a week. The good news is, by going to our local organic health food store (La Vie Claire), I’m cutting down costs on bigger packs of oats and seeds and they’re better quality too. Ensure that your ingredients are organic. Your body will thank you.
How to Make Homemade Breakfast Cereal from Scratch
Note: I use digital scales. If you’re used to using ounces, then just switch over to grams.
Maple Granola
Servings : 12
Calories : 230kcal
Description
Homemade Maple Granola breakfast cereal with no added sugar, just maple syrup and dried fruits. Vegan friendly too!
Ingredients
- 300 g (10.5oz) medium porridge oats
- 50 g (2oz) pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- 50 g (2oz) sunflower seeds (or a mixture with flax, sesame)
- 100 g (3.5oz) walnuts (broken)
- pinch salt fleur de sel
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 3 tbsp neutral oil I use grapeseed oil or coconut oil, melted if solid
- 5 tbsp maple syrup
- 10 g (0.5oz) flaked/slivered almonds
- 100 g (3.5oz) dried cranberries (or dried blueberries/sultana raisins)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan)/340°F (Gas 3).
- Measure all the ingredients (except the almonds and dried fruits) in a large bowl and stir to mix them all well together.
- Grease a large rimmed baking tray with more oil or use a baking tray covered with baking paper (or a silicone mat/Silpat). Spread out the oat mixture by shaking the tray gently from side to side.
- Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, turn over the mixture and sprinkle on the slivered almonds and bake for a further 10-15 minutes.Leave to cool then add the dried fruits.
Notes
Store in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy within 10 days. Serve with the milk of your choice or yogurt and fresh berries. Also delicious with homemade rhubarb compote. Jill Colonna MadAboutMacarons.com
Reviews (21)
Finally pulled my finger out and made this maple granola – I can only regret not trying it for 4 years!!!
Thank you Jill, another recipe to add to my go-to list!
Just scrumptious!!!
That’s music to my ears, Jerome. So glad you like the recipe – just one thing: ever since I made this, I’ve been making it just about every week! You’ll have to try my Christmas Granola too!
Absolutely love this recipe! The only issue is not having a big enough oven to make more than a couple of trays of granola at the same time. 🙂
Thanks Jill, I’m making it again today since I’ve almost finished my 1st batch! 😀 Xmas granola is next on my list! Have you tried making overnight oats? If so, would you have a recipe please? 🙂
So happy to hear this, Jerome. I still make this every week! Recipe for overnight oats coming up when I can take photos and all that blog jazz! Enjoy the Christmas granola version. I love this.
Another batch just baking nicely in the oven!
Any news on the overnight oats recipe please? 😀
Great going! I’m afraid I still haven’t made overnight oats yet as the family is going nuts over my latest development – how about a chocolate, hazelnut, coconut and golden sultana granola using jumbo oats? Just made a batch this morning for the week and so I’ll post it soon on le blog. Apologies I’m so incredibly behind here – family been top priority lately as it’s university applications etc!
[…] already know our quick weekday breakfasts: we’re addicted to this healthy Maple Granola (once you start making it, there’s no turning back to the commercial packeted cereals) with […]
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