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UPDATE: I owe any readers who may have made this oatmeal/granola bar recipe an apology. I either had some warped taste buds when I’ve made this before, I baked it too long or too short this time, I forgot to double the syrup, or something, but I had a very honest friend over this weekend who told me these are terrible!!! I think “astroturf” was the term she used… LOL! Please tell me, have you had success with this recipe or no? If so, then maybe I made a mistake following the recipe this time, which is a good possibility since my kids ate it up fast in the past, and also Shauna said in the comments that it came out good for her. But I just wanted to warn you in case you’re seeing this for the first time. Please comment below if you have a better recipe that is similar and one that is soaked please…
Another update: Here’s a much better recipe for Homemade Breakfast Cereal/Granola Snack!!
The process of “soaking” the ingredients in this recipe overnight is what gives it much higher nutritional value – the phytic acid is broken down so it won’t bind with the minerals in the milk you might be drinking it with, for example, and your body can utilize all the nutrients it needs! It also helps with digestion issues as this is a way to “pre-digest” the oats.
The recipe started with my friend, Julie, telling me how she makes her, “Honey Bunches of Oats” recipe, which her kids love (note – see recipe update below):
- 4 c. organic oats (not the quick-cooking kind)
- 4 c. filtered water
- 1/2 c. whey or organic yogurt
Before bed mix these ingredients together, cover and let set on the counter overnight. In the morning drain it as good as you can in a colander (it will be messy), then spread it out onto a buttered stainless steel cookie sheet. (Not Teflon or aluminum.) Bake at 170* for 12-24 hours – yes, you read that right. Crumble up the oats and serve them to your kids with a little local honey and organic peanut butter. Her kids loved it, mine didn’t go for it. 
photo by moria
However, my kids love the crunchy Kashi bars (but the Kashi grains aren’t soaked), so I had an idea. The next time I made it, IN THE MORNING after soaking all night and draining, I added:
- 1 1/2 t. cinnamon
- 1 t. sea salt
- 1/2-3/4 c. of local maple syrup
Then I baked it 48 hours for extra crunch…OK, actually I forgot it was in there and baked it longer than I had planned. But it was a huge hit. Although next time I’ll probably try to remember to test it after a day in the oven and see if it’s crunchy enough. Even though everyone loved it and wanted it in their lunches, it still tasted TOO hard and crunchy to me. I just saw another recipe similar to this and it says to bake it for only 4 hours.
Play around with it and do me a favor, leave a comment below to let me know how it comes out for you.
RECIPE UPDATE: I felt like skipping some steps, so I put all the ingredients together the night before, but only used 3 c. instead of 4 c. of water. In the morning I didn’t drain, just spread it onto a greased cookie sheet to bake until done – much easier.
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Michigan Mom2three 04.02.08 at 4:48 am
Hi Kelly,
I have a couple of questions. First, can you crumble this and use it as a cold cereal? (We do drink raw milk), I’m thinking this would be great to make up a bunch for camping. (We’re big campers, and this year, my goal is to camp “Nourishing Traditions” style – although it’s hard…. I usually bring boxed cereal – so this would fit the bill!) Also, regarding the aluminum. I am STILL making due with an aluminum jelly roll pan (replacing as funds allow), but what I’ve done is to use natural parchement paper every time, and only put the food on the parchement paper. Do you know if this is helpful or not? My hope is that I am avoiding the aluminum coming into my food.
Anxious to try the recipe, I’ll let you know how it turns out. I’m starting some today!
Thanks!
Shauna
[Reply]
Kelly 04.02.08 at 10:02 am
Shauna,
Great idea about the cold cereal! I haven’t tried that, but I’ll bet it would be good and another way to get away from the boxed cereals that are usually extruded. (Something the WAPF warns us about a lot.) As long as I baked it and as crunchy as it got, I’ll bet it wouldn’t get soggy, either – let me know how that is!
The parchment paper is a great idea for using with aluminum pans. When I’m lazy or cooking something really messy, I’ll use it even with my stainless steel pans.
Kelly
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debby 04.02.08 at 7:45 pm
i love to shop at http://www.wholeandnatural.com. they have all kinds of healthy and natural kosher food and snacks. the stuff is fresh and low prices.
seeya, debby
btw i used a coupon bldc08 try it
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Michigan Mom2three 04.04.08 at 4:26 am
It Worked! It Worked!
However – Kelly, this recipe NEEDS salt! The granola tasted very flat, which is why your kids maybe didn’t like it….. I took your suggestion and stirred in the cinnamon and maple syrup, and next time, I’ll stir in some SALT too. The texture was wonderful though, I let mine got just about 24 hours. It crumbled nicely into bite sized pieces, and I’m storing them in quart jars. I will probably try some a cereal today!
Shauna
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Kelly 04.04.08 at 4:38 am
Shauna,
GREAT! Thanks for the salt tip, I’ll add it into the post right now!
Kelly
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Kelly 04.04.08 at 4:44 am
Hi Debby,
What do you order from the site you mentioned? I looked around and didn’t see anything I normally buy, so I was curious.
Thanks,
Kelly (Thanks for the coupon code, by the way – there’s something so fun about getting a discount, just for typing in some letters!)
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Anonymous 04.28.08 at 6:07 am
Hi,
I like this cereal and I have a couple of suggestions. First I have another recipe that says to bake the granola at 275 for 3o-45 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. this works pretty good. Then I add nuts or dried fruit and store in an airtight container. We eat this for cold cereal and as topping for yogurt or just as a snack.
[Reply]
Kelly the Kitchen Kop 04.28.08 at 7:35 am
Ooooh, that sounds good, I KNOW my kids will like that…
Does that get very crunchy, though, after only 30-45 minutes baking?
Thanks!
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 08.05.08 at 12:40 pm
I’ve made a couple batches this week. First I let it go too long again, because it didn’t seem crunchy enough (36 hours), but realized later that it would’ve gotten harder after it came out of the oven. (Kids still gobbled it down in record time, though.)
The next time I only left it about 17 hours and it was a little chewy in spots, but the kids ended up loving that, too! I guess it’s all in how you and your kids like it.
[Reply]
theMom 09.18.08 at 7:54 pm
I know this is a comment to a really old post. I have a question re NT type baking. You don’t have to post it if you’d rather just e-mail an answer to marbraham(at)netscape(dot)net.
Does cooking in enameled roasters leach anything negative into foods? I remember my mom always making her granola in her big blue roaster and stirring it off and on for several hours.
I have a large family and it would make so much more sense to make granola in a larger volume than a cookie sheet.
Thanks for any info you can give.
Mary
[Reply]
Kelly the Kitchen Kop 09.18.08 at 8:04 pm
Hi Mary,
No problem with the new comment on an old post – new readers are finding these posts all the time, so maybe this will help them.
But…maybe not, because I don’t know the answer to your question. I haven’t looked into enameled bakeware. Maybe someone else out there knows?
Sorry I can’t help! Have you tried googling, “enamel bakeware safety” or something like that? If it weren’t so late I’d do it for you.
Kelly
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3Pages 12.13.08 at 2:18 pm
Hi, what temperature are you baking the bars at?
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 12.13.08 at 7:04 pm
Unfortunately the lowest my oven will go is 170*, if yours goes down to 150*, even better.
Kelly
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Tammy 01.10.09 at 11:37 pm
Hi,
This recipe sounds great. I’m going to try it tomorrow. Just wanted to note that the high temps. you use the more loss of nutrition.
Thanks for the great info.
Tammy
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Shauna 03.09.09 at 8:59 am
Kelly – in my comments – I noted that the recipe needed SALT, but I see you only put in 1t……. I’m guessing it needs MORE. I’d up that to 1 T if I were use, if you’re using 4 c of oats! Lack of salt with grains will definitely make them taste like astroturf!
I have to confess that I have not tried this again since I first posted that the texture was good, but it needed SALT. I have reverted to my regular tried-and-true homemade granola recipe (that I make into both granola to mix in yogurt, and into bars for my kids). Here is a link to my recipe (on my blog):
http://musingsofhomeandhearth.blogspot.com/2008/05/from-my-kitchen-heathy-snacking.html
It’s not soaked – but it’s a quick thing to fix – and it’s WAAYYY better than buying them (both ingredient-wise AND $$-wise).
Shauna
Shauna’s last blog post..Running Blog
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Shauna 03.09.09 at 9:02 am
Okay- so I’m back to say that upon further examination, my granola bars don’t have much salt either! I was assuming the salt was what the flavor needed, since when I first made the granola, it tasted “flat” like when I’ve done bread and left the salt out by accident. Hmmmmm, maybe there are some other tweaks that need to be done.
I’m sure you could take my recipe and incorporate the soaking…… I just don’t do it – it takes too much forthought and planning – and I’m busy enough.
Generally – I realize my kids need a snack, so I just whip them up.
Shauna
Shauna’s last blog post..Running Blog
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Judy 03.09.09 at 12:57 pm
I like to drain my oats after soaking, and then dehydrate them. Somehow this seems easier to me than the long oven time needed to get it dry. I then stir up everything I want in my granola except raisins, and put in a big stainless bowl and just stick that in the oven. I find it easier to stir often because it’s in a bowl rather than cookie sheets. It comes out so nicely. – Judy
Judy’s last blog post..Roasted Vegetables
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Kelly 03.10.09 at 12:53 am
Shauna, I checked out your recipe, which looks very yummy, but I don’t know how I could adapt that to a soaked recipe, because there is no liquid to substitute with buttermilk or yogurt, etc.
Unless I did it Judy’s way that she mentioned above…but I don’t have a dehydrator!
[Reply]
Jeanne 03.10.09 at 1:59 pm
Kelly,
The first time I made this it was horrible — I actually throw it out.
But I thought it was just me, since I have only recently started soaking
my grains. I made it last week again with the maple syrup and the cinnamon. I broke it up into really small pieces that I mixed with cashews, dried cranberries, and a few chocolate chips. It was very crunchy, but had a good flavor.
[Reply]
Kelly 03.10.09 at 10:48 pm
Thanks, Jeanne, I’ll try it. Our company over the weekend suggested that, too, adding nuts and dried fruit, etc.
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Annette 03.21.09 at 1:29 am
Hi Kelly,
I’m still making adjustments to this but happy with the initial results – it just sent me in a whole new direction which I’ll share next week once I’ve tested and tweaked it.
I have a question. As long as you are soaking the grains why can’t you just bake in the oven at the higher temp? Will it just not dry out before burning since it’s so moist? I did it in the dehydrator and it took 20 hours or something. It’s tasty but that is a lot of energy! I made fruit leather at the same time so it wasn’t a total waste. Just curious.
Thanks for sharing all your knowledge!
Annette’s last blog post..Cultured Dairy Products
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Kelly 03.22.09 at 1:13 am
Annette,
Hmmmmmm, I don’t know the answer to that…anybody? Maybe a brave soul will try it at a higher temp for us?
Can’t wait to see what you’re coming up with for a tweaked recipe!
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Annette 03.29.09 at 2:58 am
Ok, I’m still trying to duplicate my initial success with the chocolate version (on batch #4 of that and batch #2 of homemade breakfast cereal like cinnamon oats crunch which I’ll share when I’m happier with it).
But here is the soaked granola: http://sustainableeats.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/soaked-granola/ That I am pretty happy with. Once you’ve baked the granola (which you can add cinnamon to but my toddler doesn’t like it) you can add dried fruit, nuts, pretzel rods whatever but I don’t keep them stored together since it makes the granola less crunchy to have those dried fruits in there.
Hopefully I’ll get this breakfast cereal figured out soon. It’s driving me batty – and then gave me the idea to make our own chex mix with buckwheat so I need to get it figured out so I can move on dang nabbit!
Annette’s last blog post..Soaked Granola
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Kelly 03.29.09 at 9:42 pm
Annette, you’re awesome, I can’t wait to try this!!!
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leslie 03.31.09 at 9:54 pm
well i tried the recipe wiuth a couple of the suggestions added! it was hard, it was boring! but it did save my bum one morning when i didn’t have anything for the boys to eat!! amazingly it makes an excellent ceral. warm milk, let the granola soak for a few minutes and some honey on top and TADA!! a cereal the boys LOVED!!.
)
here is the blog i did on it. (oh i forgot to grease the pan UGH!! next time i think i may try parchment paper
http://reddoorrecipes.blogspot.com/
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Kelly 04.01.09 at 4:33 pm
Thanks for being brave enough to give it another shot!
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Kim 08.20.09 at 12:37 pm
Our family is allergic to milk. Does anyone have a suggestion for what to use instead of buttermilk, yogurt, or kiefer for soaking?
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KitchenKop 08.20.09 at 1:59 pm
Kim,
Someone just commented about this here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/03/healthy-breakfast-recipe-from-sue-baked-soaked-oatmeal.html
Try that.
Kelly
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