Homemade Maple Hazelnut Granola with Egg Whites

Making Homemade Granola

When it comes to my favorite breakfast foods, a yogurt parfait with homemade granola is usually in my top three. It’s got to have plain Greek yogurt, in-season fruit, maybe some honey or small-batch jam, and some type of homemade rolled oat granola.

Why homemade granola? Partly because it’s so much cheaper to make it at home, but mainly because I can control what goes in it. Since I don’t like starting my day with a sugar rush, my perfect granola is lightly sweetened, but it also has to have crunchy granola clusters. The problem was that so many of the recipes I was finding relied on the sugar to bind those crunchy clusters together.

While struggling to get the right balance between granola clusters without the sugar overload, I thought I had to sacrifice one in order to get the other. Recently, however, I stumbled across the missing not-so-secret ingredient that finally made my version worth sharing with all of you: egg whites.

What You’ll Need

The ingredients for homemade granola are divided into two sections: the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients. As with all granola recipes, the type of oat you choose can make or break your results. Make sure that you are using rolled oats, aka old-fashioned oats, best results. See the recipe card below for exact measurements.

How to Make Maple Hazelnut Granola 

Making granola at home is a fairly straightforward endeavor, especially my version. It’s made in two parts, the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients. Combine them together, then bake the granola in a medium to low oven until it turns golden brown – just over thirty minutes.

• Preheat the oven and prepare your baking sheet by greasing it with a thin layer of butter or lining it with parchment paper. Chop the hazelnuts. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool.

Cooking Method: Low and Slow Baking

You’ll notice that the oven recommendation for this granola is fairly low, at 300ºF. It’s much lower than you would expect for baking cookies and for a much longer time period, too. Unfortunately, this low and slow method is necessary to get good results.

We are cooking an entire pan of granola, not individual oatmeal cookies, which means it will take longer for the center to come up to temperature than the edges. The best way to do this is by reducing the temperature and increasing the time. If you try and rush it by cranking up the heat, you’ll end up with burnt edges and an uncooked center. Stick to low and slow for the best results.

Tips for Success

When making this homemade granola, the biggest tip for a successful first result is to have patience. As I mentioned above, it’s got to be cooked low and slow. However, you also have to have patience once you pull that perfect pan of granola from the oven, too. Yes, I know how hard it is to resist a bite while surrounded by the enticing aromas of buttery oats and nutty hazelnuts, but please trust me and let the pan cool.

Straight from the oven, this granola is soft and falls apart easily. The texture will be disappointing at best, especially if you burn yourself. Once it has a chance to cool, the egg whites, butter, and sugar can all work in tandem to solidify and crisp up, giving you that texture you crave. If you don’t have patience today, try these no-bake peanut butter oat balls instead.

Maple Hazelnut Granola Serving Suggestions

This maple hazelnut granola is delicious when served with full-fat Greek yogurt and fresh fruit or small-batch jam. In the summer, try it with peaches and blueberries, while in the fall, it pairs nicely with sliced pears and pomegranate arils. Sprinkle it on baked fruit for an easy dessert, or simply eat it by the handful.

How to Store

Like my crunchy baked breakfast granola with pumpkin seeds, this granola can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for a few weeks. If stored properly, its lifespan should be similar to that of most baked cereals.