Preparation

• Here are the ingredients:

  

• Chop hazelnuts and almonds. They can be chopped with a knife, but I briefly used my mini food processor.

  Crush the flax seeds in a mortar.

  They can also be ground in the chopper along with hazelnuts and almonds, but flax seeds can sometimes be tough to grind, and my mini processor doesn’t handle flax seeds well, so I always prefer using the mortar, especially with small quantities like in this case.

• Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, moisten them with the oil, honey, and orange juice, and mix well with a spoon.

  You can make the dried oranges as I told you HERE. Alternatively, you can simply use orange peel pieces, which, if thin, will dry during cooking.

  

• For the spices, having never tried this combination of flavors before, I decided to add only half a teaspoon of cinnamon and ginger and just a pinch of crushed ground cloves before cooking. After baking, I found that the spiced taste was very light, so I added the same amounts again.

  I suggest tasting and deciding after cooking how much and which spices to use; being dry and ground, they can easily be added at the end.

• Place the rack in the basket and line the basket with a sheet of parchment paper.

  For the quantities in this recipe with my air fryer, being mini, you need to cook half the mixture at a time.

  If you have an air fryer like mine, that is, an Ariete Airy Fryer Mini

  you just need to divide the mixture into two equal parts and proceed with two 8-10 minute bakes each at 356 degrees Fahrenheit.

  I recommend setting 4 minutes, then stirring the granola, then setting another 4 minutes. If you want a more golden granola, continue for another 2 minutes.

  Tip: because granola cooks quickly and can easily burn, it’s better to set one minute less than one more. For extra caution, and depending on the air fryer model used, you can lower to 320 degrees Fahrenheit in the last minutes.

  Also, stirring the mixture is essential because the air fryer (at least mine) tends to cook more on the surface and less on the bottom.

• Here is the air fryer cooking before and after:

  

• For this pan-cooked version, I have to thank my friend Lety from the blog Senza è buono. Thanks to her recipe (which is this Gluten-free pan granola), I discovered that granolas can also be cooked in a pan, something that I don’t think would have crossed my mind on my own!

  And so I tried both cooking methods in tandem: while half the mixture was cooking in the air fryer, I cooked the other half in a pan. And I guarantee that both cooking methods came out very similar, with the only difference being that you need to watch it a bit more closely in the pan. Basically, don’t get distracted.

  Cooking is very simple:

  Place the mixture into a non-stick pan, and evenly distribute it with the back of a spoon to cover the entire bottom of the pan.

  Cook over the lowest heat until evenly toasted.

  During cooking, stir frequently and be very careful not to burn the more delicate ingredients (i.e., the dried oranges and hazelnuts, since the former is already dried and the latter toasted).

  Your spiced granola will be ready when it has the crunchiness you like (a taste test is valid, as is a visual test).

  Tip: you can turn off the heat a little early and leave the granola in the pan; the residual heat will be enough to complete the cooking.

• Here is the pan cooking before and after:

  

• Great eaten alone with a spoon!

  But its best with yogurt. Or, as I immediately tried it – and I couldn’t help it! 😀 – in my beloved kefir!

  

• I hope I gave you a good idea for your Christmas gifts, and in any case, take my advice… gift yourself a couple of jars right away!

  This granola, although it is less sweet and less oily than store-bought, and although it doesn’t have big aggregates because of the little honey and little oil, is still very crunchy, and for me, it’s super!

  I’m sure you’ll be satisfied! Then let me know your opinion!!