Olive Oil and Maple Granola with a Healthier Spin

Granola is usually way too sweet, no matter how “healthy” it claims to be. But then we found the Japanese brand Calbee, which makes a low-sugar version with freeze-dried fruits—and just like that, everyone in my family got hooked on granola.

This summer, though, with Calbee prices going up and the low-sugar kind getting harder to find, I remembered an old granola recipe I had tried once but never really stuck with. I figured it was time to try again.

That’s when CC2 pointed out a secret ingredient in the Calbee cereal: popped rice. When CC2 happily swapped their pricey Japanese Calbee granola for my homemade olive oil and maple version, I knew I’d finally nailed it.

Ingredients

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

• 1-1/2 cup nuts (e.g., walnuts, pecans, almonds), whole or roughly chopped

• 2 cups seeds (I combined pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and hemp seeds)

• ½ cup unsweetened coconut (large curls)

• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamon

• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Popped rice or kemut, as you need, stir in after baking or before eating

• Dried fruit (e.g., cranberries, raisins, or chopped apricots) or freeze-dried fruit (strawberries, raspberries) – optional, stir in after baking or before eating

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 300°F.

• Mix the oats, nuts and seeds, coconut, syrup, oil, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and salt until well combined.

• Spread the mixture in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

• Bake on center rack of the oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for about 45 minutes total, until the granola is toasted.

• Add popped unsweetened cereal and freeze dried fruits

Store in sealed container