Nutty Baked Granola

I’ve been making Gwyneth’s simple 3 ingredient granola for over a year now, and interchanging quinoa and oats on a rotating basis. The kids love the simplicity of the oats version, and I love the earthiness of the quinoa version, and while the age old motto “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” usually runs true, I did feel like adding a little something-something to our typical plain granola, and so made this one. Plus, it seems that the plain granola goes a lot quicker, and having some add-ins helps to stretch the quantity out much more. Truth be told I haven’t tasted a whole big chunk of this lovely stuff yet, since it does have sugar, but I did taste a pepita just to make sure it baked up well, and the little nibble I got was amazing. The kids are loving it too, and have been serving it for breakfast, as well as packing it in lunches alongside a little dipper of yogurt. To get nice big chunks, follow the same method I use for the quinoa granola, and gently press it together and down on the baking sheet, so that it forms together in one big piece. Then, when done baking, you simply break off big chunks. Of course some chunks will crumble into little pieces, but that’s okay. Since many granola is made with butter, which requires an additional step of melting on the stove, I decided I wanted to stick with the idea from It’s All Good, of using olive oil in place of butter, which can easily be whisked with your sweetener, requiring no additional heating steps. One less thing to do is always nice in my book. Plus, using olive oil instead of butter makes it perfect for vegans, or those trying to watch their animal product intake. Can’t wait to dig into a big bowl of this stuff soon!