Fruit and Nut Granola is a chunky, luxurious Sunday morning breakfast. You need nothing more than ice cold milk to make a feast out of this crunchy oat cereal!
Fruit and nut granola is a staple in our house, all year long.
When we run out, I make more, end of story. It’s always delicious, but usually a pretty routine affair, made up of whatever half-empty bags of nuts etc. happen to be in the cupboard that week. Every once in a while, though, it gets elevated to something special.
Source the best dried fruit for this granola recipe
The taking off point for this summer fruit granola was some drop dead gorgeous dried fruit from one of the orchards at our farmer’s market. They dehydrate their ripe peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries and grapes right from their trees. I noticed a big box of it tucked away in a corner of the stand, and while all the buzz was around the fresh fruit, I scored some pretty amazing stuff.
The fruit is bright colored and plump. It bears no resemblance to the bags of dried fruit in stores. I’m kicking myself for not stocking up on it, I really hope they have more next weekend.
How to store dried fruit
- dried fruit keeps well in the pantry, but once opened, I like to keep it in heavy duty zip lock bags. This helps keep the fruit moist and plump longer.
I balanced the huge pieces of fruit with whole nuts, and even some raw peanuts in their skins. I used a wildflower honey to sweeten it just a little, and simple vanilla for flavor.
This is a chunky, luxurious Sunday morning granola. It’s good enough to package up and give as a gift (be sure to include the recipe!) send to kids at college, or offer to overnight guests. Serve it with creamy yogurt, or your favorite dairy or alternative milk.
If you love dried fruit, consider dehydrating your own.
You can preserve seasonal fruit for use all year long. I love this hydrator, it’s relatively inexpensive and will do the trick.
Summer Fruit Granola
Ingredients
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/3 cup raw wheat germ
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1/3 cups sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup pecan halves
- 1/3 cup walnut halves
- 1/3 cup raw peanuts, skin on
- 1/3 cups sliced almonds
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil, any kind you like
- 1/4 cup wildflower honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup mixed dried summer fruits such as peaches, plums, nectarines, grapes etc. cut in large bite sized pieces.
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Mix the oats, wheat germ, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the honey and vanilla to the oil. Drizzle in the oil while you are stirring the granola, until everything is well coated and combined.
- Spread the granola out evenly on a baking sheet (with sides)
- Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until toasted and golden browned. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn along the edges.
- Take the pan out of the oven and add the dried fruit to the hot granola.
- Cool on the pan, and when completely cool, store in an airtight jar.
I was a little busy yesterday (medical tests – yuck) so I was unable to get my daily fix of your beautiful food! But this gave me an idea. This weekend while you’re shopping at the farmer’s market, buy lots of extra dried fruit and have a special giveaway next week so I can win some! Now doesn’t that sound perfect??? Sign me up!
Good idea! I’m going to bring an extra big bag on Sunday.
Oh Sue – I would leap out of bed for this in the morning! lovely lovely ingredients –
Mary x
I love homemade granola too and always have some on my counter to scoop out and eat with Greek yogurt or with milk and fruit like this. A perfect start to the day!
What a wonderful and healthy breakfast meal!
Beautiful and delicious looking granola. I’m with you – we never seem to tire of granola, yours sounds amazing!
Granola is such a staple, it’s the little tweaks that keep it fresh and new for us.
Now that is definitely some gorgeous fruit! I definitely need some of this granola in my life. I have a dehydrator…but it’s pretty old and very clunky, so I don’t use it often. But when I do, I get good results!
This looks delicious. I have a dehydrator and have used it only for jerky when my boys were younger. I tried plum tomatoes and it took days. Maybe I needed a commercial brand dehydrator.
This is stunning granola. I have an Excalibur dehydrator (the 9 tray model). And my kids love snacking on the dried fruits and I have used the dehydrated vegetables in soups and casseroles. My brother’s family dehydrates almost everything that comes out of their garden and the kids snack on all of it.
P.S. There is a section in my Recipe Index listing the different foods I have dehydrated.
Thanks so much, Mary, I’m going to look up that dehydrator, and also your links.
Absolutely gorgeous. I would love to find dried fruit that beautiful at our farmer’s market.
I was given a dehydrator once, but never used it. At the time I was working and didn’t have the time it took to dry the fruit. I will be interested to see the answers you get.
Sam
I wonder how many growers dry their fruit, I’ve never noticed any before in the years I’ve been going to farmer’s markets,, but maybe I just wasn’t looking for it. I would think it would be a good way to manage the glut of extra fruit at the height of the summer.
the colors and textures are just jumping off the page! I love big chunky bits in my granola and this looks perfect – especially with summer fruit!
I can’t stop looking at the colors of the fruit, all those different peaches and nectarines etc. were each a slightly different shade.