Kelly's Gluten Free Granola

My friend calls this recipe the "oatmeal cookie in a bowl" granola. I started making my own granola long before becoming gluten free. It was more a means to make it economically since really good granola is pricey and I've never been a real big cereal fan. This recipe is easy to change to your own tastes and preferences. If you are not a fan of brown sugar I'm sure that coconut sugar, brown rice syrup, or honey would be easy substitutions in this recipe. Just remember that brown rice syrup and honey have some water in them and you might want to decrease your water amount accordingly.

That is also true of what nuts you choose to use here. I prefer walnuts, but this would be good with almonds or any other nut. I like to grind all my nuts and seeds up. This makes the seeds easier to digest and I like the overall texture that the ground nuts have. Plus, the nuts toast better when ground up into smaller pieces. Really, once the nuts and seeds are ground up, this is a dump everything in a big bowl and mix type of recipe. This is a great one to have the kids help with too. I keep this in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week, but you can freeze it in big batches and it will last up to 6 months, if it isn't eaten before then.

Kelly’s Granola

Ingredients:

One 32 oz Bob's Red Mill GF Rolled Oats

One 8 oz or 2 2/3 cups of Let’s Do…Organic Finely Shredded Organic Coconut Unsweatened

1 cup Toasted Sesame Seeds-milled in coffee grinder

1 cup Certified Organic Flax Seed-milled in coffee grinder

1 one pound bag Sunflower Kernels

1 one pound bag Walnut Pieces-ground fine in a food processor

1 cup Oil

1 cup Water

1 tsp Fine Sea Salt

1 cup Golden Brown Cane Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F, set aside two cookie sheets with sides or two sheet cake pans.

Combine oats, coconut, flax seed, sesame seed, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and salt in a large bowl.

In a sauce pan, mix together the oil, sugar, & water. Heat until boiling. Pour over rest of the ingredients, stirring thoroughly.

Spread mixture onto cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes, stir. Repeat this process three more times until granola is toasted. 2nd time for 20 minutes and 3rd and 4th times for 15 minutes each. Oats should be crisp and brown, but coconut should not be burned.

Allow to cool thoroughly and place in an airtight container for storage. Can be stored up to 3 weeks without refrigeration.Raisins and GF/CF chocolate chips are my favorite add-ins and I serve it with unsweetened hemp milk.