This Bunny Runs

I’ve been using the stay at home period to dabble with a bit of baking and whilst I won’t be rivalling Mary Berry anytime soon, my cupboard granola is one of my favourite things to make. Its also a great way to use up lots of the random bits and bobs in your cupboards. Please note I have no background in nutrition and 99.9% of the time I’m a terrible cook, but what I do know is that I love some homemade granola, alpro and berries to start the day- especially after a morning run.

This serves two people for approximately 3- 4 breakfasts depending on how much granola you like per serving. It is very much a chuck things in and see how it turns out kind of recipe!

What you’ll need:

Well pretty much a range of things you can find in your cupboards! The key ingredients I use are:

• 3 cups of porridge oats, although if you don’t have these you can supplement with three sachets of ready made porridge (the Quaker Oats style ones).
• 1 bag of Real Handful Strawberry stomp (available from Tesco or online) although you can supplement this with raisins or other dried fruit.
• 3 – 4 heaped tablespoons (depending on how generous your cup sizings are) of golden syrup, honey, maple syrup or something similar and sticky. This is to bind the mixture.
• 2 spoons of water or milk for extra binding.

Extra things you can add if you have them, or supplement for the things above if you don’t: nuts, chia seeds, fresh/frozen (thawed) berries, coconut flakes or other random surprises you find in your cupboard (well within reason 😂)

You’ll also need a large(ish) bowl, some kitchen foil, a baking tray, a spatula or large wooden spoon and an airtight container for afterwards.

How to make:

Chuck it all into a big bowl and mix, if you find it isn’t binding add a tiny bit more syrup. You want to oats to be lightly covered and not still dry and the mixture to be slightly sticky yet crumbly. If your mixture forms a cohesive dough like mass then you’ve added too much ‘liquid’ and you need to balance out with more oats. Its very much trial and error.

Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and cover a baking tray with foil.

Spoon the mixture onto the tray and pat down. You want the mixture to be about 3cm thick.

Place into the oven for 15 minutes then mix with a spatula before baking for another 15 minutes until golden brown.

Once your granola is ready remove from the oven and cool on the tray before transferring to an airtight box.

Store in a cool dry place (not the fridge and I would suggest to consume within 3-5 days).

Serve with your favourite accompaniment, I use alpro but you could choose yoghurt, milk or get even more creative.

Perhaps make breakfast for your significant other then suggest they do the washing up (hahahaha)