Pat Leavitt Shares Famous Granola Recipe

A Serenity Ridge Retreat Favorite!

Follow the instructions as given and you will only have to wash the oil off your hands once. What makes it so good? The hands-on mixing, as you're thinking about how much your family and guests are going to love it. This granola was adapted from the recipe served at Claymont Court in West Virginia. I decreased the honey as much as I could so it's not overly sweet. All the nuts and seeds make it high protein (high fat too, in a good way) and will sustain you through the morning meditation sessions. 

You can adjust the quantities of nuts and seeds to what you like as long as the total amount is the same. Like if you didn't have pumpkin seeds or walnuts, just increase the coconut, sunflower and almonds to replace. I do chop the walnuts and almonds by hand, I just like it that way. Once you've done that, the rest is not much labor.

At Serenity Ridge, we usually made 4 hotel pans (40 cups of oats) and it made a 4-5 gallon bucket. Enough for 80 people for about 3-4 days of breakfast!

[NOTE: We have included the US units as well as Metric.]

For a household size batch, use 1 hotel pan size, that is a 12" x 20" x 2" high (30 cm x 51 cm x 5 cm) baking pan. Or if you have 2 pans, 13"x 9" (33 cm x 23 cm) pyrex, for example, that should work. Or a heavy-duty foil pan 12" x 20" (30 cm x 51 cm).

Dry ingredients: (all nuts are raw)

10 cups (2.4 L or 850 g) rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 cup (2 ⅓ dl or 120 g) chopped almonds or 2 ⅓ dl
1 cup (2 ⅓ dl or 120 g) chopped walnuts
2 cups (4 ¾ dl) shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup (2 ⅓ dl or 128 g) pumpkin seeds
2 cups (4 ¾ dl or 280 g) sunflower seeds 
1 ½ TBSP cinnamon
1 generous cup of raisins (2 ⅓ dl or 165 g)—mix this in after it has baked and cooled)

Mix all dry ingredients well in big bowl. 
Preheat oven 300 degrees Fahrenheit (medium low heat) (150 degrees Celsius).

Wet ingredients:

3/4 cup oil (1 ¾ dl) such as sunflower or grapeseed; melted coconut oil works too
1 ¼ cup (1 and ⅔ dl) honey

Now oil well the pans, and then combine the wet with dry ingredients.
Rub the oil and honey into the oats and everything. 
Massage it in! Work into the bottom of the bowl and get everything coated.
Transfer to oiled pans and bake, stirring occasionally: the edges will get brown first. 
Bake approximately 1 hour, or until golden brown. Stir one final time and allow to cool in pan.
Then mix in raisins.

Store at room temperature, in glass jars, cookie tins, etc. although you can refrigerate if keeping longer than a few weeks. Freezes well, too.

Enjoy!!