After the wet ingredients have been thoroughly heated and combined, you can immediately dump them into the bowl of dry ingredients. I suggest stirring to distribute the liquid completely through the dry ingredients as soon as possible because it is beneficial for the liquid to be warm when placed into the oven to bake with the granola.
Next, spoon the granola mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it out while pressing down with the back of the spoon to compact everything together!
Next, I suggest setting a timer for just 10 minutes to bake the granola for. Depending on your oven’s normal performance, you may need to adjust this time to near 15 minutes, but it will most likely require no less than 10 minutes so keep that as your minimum time. The key to knowing when it has finished baking is when the granola does not retain a fingerprint indent when it is pressed down.
You will want to cool the granola on the sheet atop a wire rack for about 15 minutes before attempting to break it apart. Then, once cooled, use a spatula to break the granola into pieces while keeping the sheet flat. You can then pick up the parchment paper from both sides and empty all the contents into a large airtight container.
Now, feel free to add raisins, other dried fruit, or your favorite granola add-ins!! These ingredients should stir right into the already baked granola. The best part is that the granola should stay fresh for up to 3 weeks if tightly covered! Feel free to even just keep this as a topping or snack or continue on to make parfaits.
COMPLETING THE PARFAIT:
To make delicious, sweet and crunchy parfaits, all you need to do is place a layer of yogurt in a bowl or cup. Then, add layers of fresh or frozen and thawed fruit, the homemade granola from this recipe, and fruit sauces in the order of your choice. (As you can see, I like putting granola on the very top for the first bite to have a crunch đ )
BUT WAIT….
How do you create a healthy fruit sauce that doesn’t require that much work at all !? Read on…
