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by Katie Webster
November 22, 2016 (updated 5/4/22) Jump To Recipe

This Maple Granola with walnuts and cranberries has been with me for a long time. It is vegan and refined sugar-free. I make it every year for gifts for the holidays. I originally posted this back in 2010, and it also appeared in my Maple cookbook. I wanted to share it again with you today, because it is one of my favorites!

I know I love a gift card to my favorite restaurant as much as the next person, but nothing says you care more than a home-made gift. I realize I’m sort-of ruining the surprise of what I’m giving this holiday season by blogging about it, but I I really wanted to share my recipe for MapleGranola.

I’m not sure if it could be any easier to make.

The best part is that you can feel good giving it because this granola features a trifecta of healthy ingredients including Pure Maple Syrup,Walnuts and Cranberries.

What Makes this Maple Granola Healthier

• It’s made with a whole cup of walnuts, a great plant-based source of omega 3’s
• Both maple syrup and cranberriesare high in antioxidants
• Rolled oats have cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber.
• I also used avocado oil which is a great source of monounsaturated fats and it has a high smoke point which makes it ideal for baking.
• This granola is made without any refined sugar.
• Maple syrup contains trace minerals and micronutrients.
• It’s also healthy for the earth: Maple syrupisharvested in a way that allows us to retain our natural wooded landscape preserving natural ecosystems.
• This is naturally vegan.
• It is gluten-free when you purchase gluten-free oats.

Tips for the Crunchiest Maple Granola

• Maple is naturally hygroscopic, so a lot of maple granola can be tacky or sticky. This granola is delightfully crunchy. The key is to dry it out in the oven by baking it, and then turning off the oven to allow the oats to dry. if you don’t do this, the maple will pull the mositure from the oats, and the whole batch will gradually become sticky.
• This granola is really simple. Meaning, there are not a lot of competing ingredients and flavors. No cinnamon, no seeds. No coconut or coconut oil. The result is a really straight-forward maple flavor. Since maple is a natural ingredient, it’s flavoring potential is limited, so adding a lot of strong flavors can overpower it.
• Use dark pure maple syrup for the most pronounced maple flavor. Since the US has adapted the new standardized grading system, no matter where you buy your pure maple syrup it should have one of the following grades: Grade A Golden, Delicate, Grade A Amber, Rich or Grade A Dark, Robust. What we used to call Grade B, is now called Grade A Dark. I personally love this change, because calling something Grade B connotes that it is inferior. But anyone who has tried Dark syrup will be able to attest for the fact there is nothing inferior about it!
• Then after it cools completely, yes, you should wait until it is completly cool… then add the dried cranberries and pop it into some pretty packaging with a bow and tag. I used ball jars and rustic ribbon this year.

Note: This post was originally published on December 1st, 2010.The text and images have been updated, but the recipe is unchanged. This recipe is also featured in my cookbook, Maple: 100 Sweet and Savory Recipes Featuring Pure Maple Syrup{Quirk Books, 2015.}

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About the Author

Katie Webster

Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.

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