Granola - low fat
My go-to granola recipe - using applesauce in place of most of the oil saves tons of calories!
Ingredients
- 3 cups rolled oats {old fashioned not quick cooking}
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped unsalted cashews
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped raw peanuts
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
- 2 Tbsp wheat germ
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup plain unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, nuts, flax seeds, wheat germ, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, warm the applesauce, brown sugar, honey, vanilla extract, and oil over low heat.
Add the applesauce mixture to the oat mixture and stir until everything is evenly coated.
Spread the mixture onto two baking sheets. Make sure you have an even layer and the pans aren’t crowded. Bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the granola is a golden brown color.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before eating or storing in an airtight container. The granola may seem like it’s a bit mushy in parts when it comes out of the oven, but once it cools it will harden and develop that wonderful crunch granola is known for.
NOTES:
1. Although my recipe doesn’t include dried fruits, feel free to add a cup of whatever dried fruit you like after the granola has cooled.
2. Feel free to use whatever types of nuts you like or you can skip them and increase the oats by a cup.
3. The wheat germ and the flax seeds are added for their health benefits, but if you don’t have any on hand then they can be eliminated without having to adjust the recipe.