Homemade Crag Granola
Have you ever found yourself wishing for a snack while resting during a session or at the crag? I know I do if I haven’t eaten in a long while. Today, I think I have found a solution for that issue.
Over a year ago, I stumbled upon a granola recipe on the professional climber and base-jumper Steph Davis’ website. Davis is vegan and sometimes posts vegan-friendly recipes on her site. I’m not vegan, but when I saw her post, I thought it looked easy and yummy enough to make.
Making Tasty Food
When creating and preparing food, I prefer them to be quick and straightforward to do. Luckily, granola falls under my criteria. It helps when the ingredients are also cheap to buy. What’s nice about granola is that it’s versatile.
Lately, I’ve wanted to make granola for work because it’s a great grab-and-go snack. It dawned on me that it would be perfect to take to a session or the crag because it’s not messy or sticky. You can put it in a bag or container and take it with you wherever you go.
What I like about Davis’ recipe is that it’s a mostly healthy snack that doesn’t taste like crap or cardboard. It has a nice mix of carbs, protein, and fats to keep you going. Besides the syrup, there’s no added sugar in it. You can substitute the ingredients to your liking or dietary preferences. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
So, I’ve decided to share this delicious recipe with all of you. Now, without further ado, let’s make some tasty food.
Homemade Granola by Steph Davis
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees (I like my granola a little browned–if you like yours less browned, you can set the oven to 250 or 275). Your kitchen will smell good after making this.
Prep time: 10-20 min. Cook time: ⁓1 hour
- 4 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup raw almonds (Don’t use the salted ones because you’ll add salt in later. You can use slivered – these are in the baking goods aisle.)
- 1 cup cashews
- 1 cup walnuts (I substitute pecans.)
- 1 cup coconut flakes (You can use shredded dry coconut – this is also in the baking goods aisle)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup safflower oil (I use sunflower oil, but I think you can use vegetable too.)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 cup raisins (These are to be added later. Not a huge fan, but you could replace them with some other dried fruit.)
- Mix up the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Measure the maple syrup and safflower oil together in a large pyrex (or any large) measuring cup. Add the vanilla and stir together in the pyrex cup with a wooden spoon. (Or any large spoon you have.)
- Pour the wet mix over the dry ingredients and mix with the spoon.
- Spread the wet granola over two large cookie sheets–the more you spread it out, the faster it will bake and dry out.
- Check on it occasionally, stirring it around the sheets with the wooden spoon, and bake for around an hour. I let it cook just until the nuts and oats are slightly browned.
- Take out the sheets and let them cool for about 10 minutes. Now, sprinkle the raisins over the granola. (I had some that needed to be eaten.
- When it’s completely cooled down, transfer it to a sealable container or ziplock bags. Or eat some of it which is probably what I’ll do. 😊
Enjoy! Until next time, happy bouldering and snacking!