the best granola

I realise that making my own muesli puts me fairly and squarely in the 'too-hippy-for-Woodstock' category, but homemade muesli (or 'granola' as our American friends call it) is SO good. Once you've made that first batch, there's no going back to supermarket muesli.

We researched many a recipe, before stumbling on Nigella's, and tweaking it a little... to arrive at what we think is the perfect granola. This recipe uses apple puree instead of oil, making it lighter, crispier and healthier than you might expect. We make a huge batch that gets us through many a (delicious) morning.

OUR VERSION OF NIGELLA'S GRANOLA

500gm rolled oats (the wholegrain kind)

150gm oat bran

100gm sesame seeds

100gm sunflower seeds

75gm slivered almonds

350gm apple puree/compote (3 large apples)

4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp vanilla essence

100gm honey or golden syrup

1 tbsp olive oil

200gm raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Peel and core three apples, and chop into small pieces. Put into small saucepan with a splash of water and let cook until soft. Puree with a hand-held mixer or in a blender/food processor until smooth.

While apple puree is cooling, mix all of the dry ingredients together (except the raisins) in a big bowl. Next, mix all of the wet ingredients together and add wet to dry, stirring thoroughly until the apple puree mixture has soaked into all of the dry mixture.

Spread onto two large baking dishes (the kind you bake lasagnes in) and bake in a 170 degree oven for approx 1 hour, stirring several times throughout the baking process.

Once browned, pull from oven and let cool. Don't worry if the granola is still soft, it will crisp up as it cools.

Once cooled, add raisins.

Serve with yogurt or milk, or anything you like, and enjoy.