Vanilla Almond Granola Base…High in Omega 3’s and Superfoods
A while back I got obsessed with making granola – not (obviously) because its such a sexy subject matter, but because I have found its a tricky way to ease my Austrian boyfriend away from the ubiquitous morning toast habit….and its a really excellent mask for a whole load of super-healthy ingredients that are sometimes not so easy to fit into a regular diet. As always, I am looking for sneaky ways to get more Omega 3 oils into our diet…
This granola recipe is split into two parts – the base, which takes a bit of time to make, and the final flavoring step, which allows you to whip up many different flavor combos quickly. So plan ahead – it’s well worth the initial effort. This recipe will make a large amount of base which you can split up and store in your freezer, pulling out to make several fresh batches (and flavors) of fresh granola as supplies run low. Which they will.. quickly!
(Please play with this recipe – it would not be a stretch to say I have never made it the same way twice. The last time I made it I increased the buckwheat, the maca and the flavorings and then doubled the flax to make it even more healthy, and it was still delicious!)
Vanilla Almond Granola Base (makes enough for 2 large batches of granola)
- 3 c raw sprouted oat flour or rolled oats (see Notes on Oats, below)
- 2 c raw sprouted buckwheat,
- 2 c ground almonds (soaked and dried)
- 1 c freshly ground golden flax seed
- 1 cup hulled hemp seeds, coarsely ground
- 2 T Peruvian maca powder (optional)
- 1 1/2 t. Himalayan or high quality grey or sea salt
- 3/4 c coconut sugar (or 5 packets of stevia)
- 3/4 c raw coconut oil
- 1/4 c agave syrup/maple syrup
- 2 T vanilla extract
- 1/4 t. almond extract (optional)
- 1/2 c water
Combine oats, buckwheat, ground nuts, flax, hemp, maca, coconut sugar/stevia and salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix well, adding coconut oil and using your hands to break up clumps. The mixture will be loose and crumbly, holding together lightly like a graham cracker pie crust.
Add flavorings to the water-agave/maple syrup mix and sprinkle lightly over this crumb mixture, tossing lightly with you hands so that pea sized balls begin to form. Use your fingertips to help the loose crumbs forming the little balls – these become the lovely oaty bites in the final recipe.
Spread out on 4 Perflex sheets and dehydrate 8 – 12 hours at a low temp (108°). Turn the mixture over once to expose any damp spots so everything is uniformly dry as possible.
You can split into two batches at this point, freezing half to keep it fresh. Continue on to Ginger Goji Super Granola and Friends for the next step and all the flavor variations…
Note: because of the high Omega 3 oil content in the ground flax and hemp, this granola should be subjected to as little heat as possible, and stored in the refrigerator or freezer to keep fresh.
NOTES ON OATS
There seems to be a lot of confusion around oats out there. The first thing I want to mention is that “raw oats” are very rarely raw – even those really raw looking oat groats you find in the bulk food section of your local health food store. (And especially not the rolled oats from the Quaker Oats box, which have been steamed, then rolled).
I spent many many days trying to get those healthy raw looking oat groats to sprout before I started researching oat production and apparently, oats are most often “stabilized” by heat or chemicals within 4 days of harvest in order to keep them from spoiling. So… then I ordered some “sprouting oats” online, which also, suspiciously, did not sprout, ever… and then, recently I found a big bag of organic, freshly harvested spouting oats in a community market in California, which, after lugging back with me on the plane to NYC, I did manage to sprout! Happily I took my freshly sprouted oats, dehydrated them, blended them into oat flour, make a bug batch of vanilla almond granola base (all four trays full) only to realize that they had turned completely toxic somewhere in the process. I mean really really awful (burn the back of your throat toxic). I was so traumatized by this I let the whole batch sit in my dehydrator for 4 days before I could even throw it out. It turns out that 1) rather than soaking overnight, as I did, you should only soak for 1 -2 hours before sprouting. And 2) it might have been a “bad batch” of raw oats. I googled and found other people out there with similar experiences. The end result? I made my most recent batch of granola base with high quality old fashioned rolled oats and added in the sprouted buckwheat to “raw it up” a bit.
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