Brown Sugar Baked Granola & Trail Mix
This month I was looking for something good for the kids to snack on. If you have young ones around, I’m sure you are asked a million times a day for a snack. And truth be told, I hate snack time, because it seems to be snack time all the time around here! So I decided to make this Brown Sugar Baked Granola as a great self-serve treat for after school!
This is a simple, flexible, tasty and inexpensive snack that you can make at home! Perfect for after school, hikes, cross country ski trips or skating adventures at the lake. Pack into little individual packages, and you have nutritious and yummy trail mix snack for your whole family.
Brown Sugar Baked Granola
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 0 ~ 5 cups granola 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 cups rolled oats (don’t use quick oats)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- Tasty ingredients to add after baking (I used about 1 cup combined)
- candy coated chocolate
- nuts
- shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- In a medium to large pot, melt butter, then mix in sugar and water.
- Add vanilla and cinnamon. Combine.
- Add oats. Mix well.
- Spread onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. The granola won’t stick to the parchment paper, so it’s a must to use!
- Bake for 15-25 minutes. Watch that it doesn’t burn. See tips.
- Once the granola has cooled, add some tasty treats like candy coated chocolate, nuts or shredded coconut.
Granola Recipe Tips!
- If you like granola more chewy, then bake it for about 15 minutes. If you like it more crunchy and with more toasted oat-y flavour, bake it longer. One thing to note, the granola will harden as it cools, so don’t fret if it’s falling apart. After about 15 minutes or so of cooling, it will harden into chunks.
- Substitution idea: I think next time I would substitute in some honey for a nice honey flavour. I would probably use 1/3 cup brown sugar and 2/3 cup honey.
- Addition idea: 1/4 – 1/2 cup of peanut butter mixed in (before baking, with the butter and sugar) would be delicious too. Yum!
- Substitution idea: You can also substitute peanut butter for the butter if you want to make Peanut Butter Granola. I would use about 1/4 – 1/2 cup.
- More tasty additions: For extra nutrition you can add chia seeds, hemp seeds, raisins, shredded coconut (about 1/2 cup)…use your imagination!
Brown Sugar Baked Trail Mix
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 batch of your homemade brown sugar baked granola
- 1 cup nuts of your choice (toasted or untoasted)
- 1/3 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup large flaked coconut
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Break up the baked granola into chunks.
- Combine all ingredients.
- Store in a closed container in a cool dry place.
Trail Mix Recipe Tips!
- The best thing about making homemade trail mix is that you can add what ever you like to it. The possibilities are endless! Here are some options!
- Dried fruit of all kinds: apricots, cherries, blueberries, apples, craisins
- Smarties
- Sunflower seeds
- All kinds of nuts: peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, walnuts, either toasted or untoasted. Toasted nuts pack more flavour!
- If you want to make a nut-free version, add candy roasted chickpeas instead of nuts!
That looks really good, Jo-Anna. I love trail mix and granola. I’ll definitely have to make some. I’m with you about adding the honey. LOVE honey! Thanks for sharing. : )
~ Catie
That mix looks incredible. I’ve never seen cherry flavoured chips before. I’ll need to look for them.
I have used your recipe exclusively for my granola for years and my family just loves it. They don’t even need any add ins of chocolate or raisins, they love it just as is. Thank you for sure a great recipe. Oh and I used dairy free olive oil based butter instead of dairy butter and it turns out perfect every time.
I love this! I’m so happy you and your family enjoy it!
Yum! I’m definitely interested in that Trail Mix…thanks for sharing!
I love a good trail mix and this is so pretty!
This is a snack I know I would not be able to keep my hands out of!
Love a tasty and healthy snack and this one fits the bill.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my Group ‘A’ SRC entry: Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Oh my, looks sooooo good. Never saw those cute chips before – will be on the lookout for them.
🙂
Patricia
I hope you’ll stop by to see my SRC Giant Chocolate Toffee Cookies.
http://butteryum.blogspot.com/2012/02/giant-chocolate-toffee-cookies.html
Wow, this looks delicious! Definitely something I want to try over the weekend. Yum!
I swear I left a comment on this post this morning…not sure if I didn’t hit submit or what…but anyhoo…I’m so glad you liked my granola and the trail mix you came up with is great! Love those cherry-chips….YUM!
Coconut. GREAT idea! I love Averie, she’s the perfect mix of healthy and so-bad-for-you-desserts! I’m stopping by from SRC but I’d love if you check our my new site seasonalpotluck.com February is oranges month so if you have any orange recipes, we’d love if you’d link up! http://bit.ly/zDoNfx
great pick, i love granola. i have been watching averie’s blog for a while, so i know how hard choosing one of her recipes must have been. your blog is so beautiful!
Those both look amazing! I can’t wait to try… the trail mix is so pretty and colorful. My kiddo loves trail mix, but I might like it even more!