PS — that would be pre-Suzanne (2008) and her constant enabling of everything handmade, scratch-cooked, handpicked, handwoven, whittled from a log with her blog, the forum, and now Farm Bell Recipes– this was the yogurt that was in my shopping bag every week. Lots of them.
Now, I’ve been making my own yogurt in a crockpot for well over a year. And I’ve been very happy just adding some vanilla or having a fruit-on-the-bottom with a spoon of jam.
But for some reason, after all this time, I started thinking of my old YoCrunches. I’ve been missing my granola!
I searched YoCrunch’s website to find the ingredients of their granola. Pretty simple and straightforward if you leave out the soy lecithin and caramel color. I was prepared to experiment to come up with my granola! But I looked at the Granolas here on Farm Bell first. Easier! Recipe included! I chose Kelly in Tx’s Kid-Friendly Granola. I had everything and if I left out the raisins, nuts and coconut, it was the granola in the little plastic top of my old yogurt. I decided to leave the coconut in–I like toasted coconut!
How to make Kid-Friendly Granola:
3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups rice cereal (I use Rice Krispies)
1 cup shredded coconut (I use sweetened)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey, warmed slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 to 3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
Combine all ingredients except raisins in a very large bowl. I doubled this recipe. I used a 7-Cereal instead of just rolled oats. Also, pumpkin pie spice instead of just cinnamon.
Mix until everything is well combined. You may need to slightly warm the syrup or honey if it is too sticky-–it needs to be runny to coat everything.
Spread onto a cookie sheet and place in oven. I used my huge pan (it’s the size of my oven grate).
Stir about every 10 to 15 minutes until everything is golden brown, usually about an hour. After about 45 minutes, it was not getting very dry, so I divided the mix up into 2 pans. Went much faster!
Keep an eye on it – don’t let it burn!
Remove from oven and add raisins or other dried fruit, if using.
Let cool completely and store in airtight containers.
This doubled recipe made 3 quarts of granola. I’ve been eating it by the handful!
And in my yogurt! I have my own handmade, scratch-cooked YoCrunch!
Get the handy print page and save this to your recipe box here:
Kid-Friendly Granola.
Cindy blogs at Chippewa Creek ~ Our Life Simplified.
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Melinda says:
That looks delicious! I have a question though. I like yoplait, breyers, or just about any store bought yogurt but I tried two different brands of plain non sweetened yogurt in anticipation of making my own……and YUCK!
The taste was so sharp I couldn’t even get one spoonful down. That has prevented me from making my own.
IS there a secret to making homemade taste like what we are used to ?
On January 16, 2011 at 8:58 am
CindyP says:
They add sugars/sweeteners and flavors to it to give it the taste you’re used to 🙂 You can add jam (flavor + sweetener), sugar or a sweetener that you use daily and vanilla for a vanilla flavor. Really your homemade flavor combinations are endless. I was amazed when I found the ingredients list on my yocrunch of what was in it. They actually had a modified starch…I’m thinking to make it thick, which is something I’ve just gotten used to – a thinner than I buy in the store yogurt. I don’t need to add starch to it.
On January 16, 2011 at 9:13 am
Melinda says:
I tried stirring honey into some of the plain and again…yuck. Perhaps I will try strawberry jam and see how that works out. I really want to make my own but no sense in doing that if I won’t eat it! Thanks for the tip!
On January 16, 2011 at 9:16 am
Jessica Tibbetts says:
OOO! I just made yogurt in the slow cooker last night! It is not as creamy as the french version I am used to, but I like that I can control sugar and flavors. Making some of iot into Greek-style later today. Now GRANOLA! Sweet. Thanks Cindy P!
On January 16, 2011 at 10:59 am
lisabetholson says:
Very smart lady you are Cindy P. Nice job!
On January 16, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Darlene in North GA says:
@Melinda – the homemade yogurt has a different flavor and texture than even the store-bought plain will have. So it’s probably not a good comparison to buy the plain from the store and try to doctor it.
Second thing is that you don’t want to waste the milk to make yogurt. Buy a very small container of plain yogurt and make sure it has ACTIVE yogurt culture in it. Follow the instructions for making yogurt, but divide the recipe in half or even quarters to make it. That way, you don’t have a bunch of yogurt hanging around.
I always have powdered milk on hand in my storage, so I use it either as all of the milk in the yogurt or to make the store-bought milk thicker. I’m thinking that I used to make it with about 1/3-1/2 cup powdered milk in addition to the amount needed to make a quart of milk or to the quart of milk needed to make yogurt. If you don’t have a yogurt maker and are using your crock pot, either use a small-sized crock pot (I have a 1 qt crock pot – cost about $8 at Walmart), if you don’t have that, put your yogurt in a heat-safe smaller bowl and then put the bowl in the crock-pot with some water on the bottom of the crock-pot. You’ll want about an inch or two deep, but make sure it’s lower than your bowl so you don’t get water into the yogurt. Sort of a water bath for the yogurt. The water will keep the crock safe but you can still have a smaller amount in the crock.
On January 16, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Pete says:
Yum!! And am going to try yogurt making for the first time later today or tomorrow. Time for a nap now… 😉
Adding honey and granola to plain store bought yogurt makes it pretty delish, so home made will be better, for sure.
Need to study up on how to make the yogurt into Greek yogurt, though. I really like that consistency.
On January 16, 2011 at 3:18 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
What is Greek yogurt???
On January 16, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Astrid says:
Looks very tasty…and best part is..I got everything I need in my pantry.
Guess I’m off to the kitchen to make granola.
Yammie
On January 16, 2011 at 7:23 pm
CindyP says:
Greek yogurt is just strained yogurt…to make a thicker consistency, between normal yogurt and cream cheese…like a sour cream.
On January 16, 2011 at 7:35 pm
ShellyBell says:
Ok – now I’ve got to make my own yogurt. We go through a ton of it around here. Could you make it thicker, like Greek yogurt, by letting it strain through some cheesecloth for a while?
On January 16, 2011 at 10:27 pm
lisabetholson says:
Sounds wonderful.
On January 16, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Dina says:
this is toooo funny. I made homemade granola this morning and at lunch, while eating yogurt and granola, we were discussing whether we could make our own yogurt!
On January 16, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Leah's Mom says:
For Greek yogurt you put it in a cheesecloth or butter muslin and drain it like you would for fromage blanc or a similar cheese. Most of the recipes that I’ve read call for draining the yogurt in the fridge (as opposed to fromage blanc in which you would drain at room temp.)
The idea is to get the whey out so that what is left is a thicker, richer yogurt.
I only tried this once but mine did not turn out well. I think the problem was my culture was old and didn’t work very well! I am planning on trying it with my next batch again to see if I can perfect it!
On January 17, 2011 at 12:28 am
bonita says:
Not only is the Greek yogurt ‘richer’ some even have 2x the protein as regular yogurt. I, too do not like the plain yogurt from the national brands. However, I find that the plain Greek yogurt much more palatable, esp with a bit of honey!
On January 17, 2011 at 1:38 am
Courtney says:
The longer you keep your yogurt in the crock the milder it should be, if I am not mistaken. I make mine a quart at a time using skim milk. I always let it sit for 10-12 hrs, and mine is milder than what I got at the store. I can eat it plain no problem if I choose to.
I used to add powdered milk to make it thicker, but now I just drain it in the fridge using cheese cloth or coffee filters. (Cheese cloth works better, in a mesh strainer above a bowl, with a small saucer on top for a bit of weight if I want it as thick as cream cheese.)
I only need a couple of tablespoons of my yogurt as starter, so I freeze some starter in a cube to save for later. After 4 or 5 generations the yogurt wont be as good as a starter and takes longer to culture, so I lable the starter I save as to the generation and date. Just take the yougurt out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge overnight. I can keep going almost indefinetely without buying more starter.
On January 17, 2011 at 1:44 pm
AuntieAmy says:
Yum! Looks delicious! Now I have to go searching on how to make my own yogurt!
On January 17, 2011 at 3:16 pm
CindyP says:
There’s a link to the Crockpot Yogurt toward the top of the post 😉
On January 17, 2011 at 3:19 pm