Banana Date Granola
Posted by Danielle Bean in Food on Sunday, July 13, 2008 3:59 PM
I love granola. But the price tag of fancy organic brands? And the added fats and sugars of many other brands? Not so much.
The solution, of course, is to make it ourselves. But I have been disappointed with many recipes in the past—especially ones that call for gobs of butter and sugar. What’s the point?
This weekend, though, I happened upon a promising looking recipe at AllRecipes.com that uses pureed banana instead of honey or butter as a sweetener and binding agent. I adapted it a little to suit my family’s taste and to use the ingredients we had in the house and ... YUM!
So I make my own granola. But I still don’t wear Birkenstocks.
3-4 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup hot water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 cups old fashioned oats
8 ounces dried mixed fruit (we used chopped dates)
8 ounces shelled sunflower seeds (or chopped nuts, or coconut, or whatever you like)Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Puree the bananas in a blender or food processor. Add the brown sugar, hot water, vanilla, and cinnamon; blend well. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl, add oatmeal and mix well. Spread onto large baking sheets. If you like clumpy granola, squeeze the moist oatmeal together a bit before baking. Bake for 1 to 1-1/2 hours stirring frequently. Cook longer for crunchier granola, if desired. Once cooled, add the dried fruits and nuts, and mix. Stored in an airtight container, this keeps for many days at room temperature. In the freezer, it keeps for months.
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