Recipes: June 2005 Archives
I've been dreaming of homemade granola recently. It must be my mom's fault for making granola for us when we were younger, but even though I don't usually care for sweet breakfasts there's just something about granola. It fills you up, tastes great, and feels like a proper breakfast, even if you wolf it down before dashing out the door. And if you make your own you can make the exact balance you want of nuts, fruit, sweetening and oats.
Here's the basic recipe I tried this week, and it turned out great and took less than half an hour. Don't like coconut? Leave it out entirely. I think you could experiment with adding extracts when you add the fruit (vanilla or almond sound best to me). You could also try other spices, like cardamom or cloves (just a pinch), and I plan to experiment with adding orange flavor, either by grating in a teaspoon or two of orange zest at the end and/or by using some fresh orange juice with the sweetener. Eat with milk, soy milk, or yogurt, and fresh fruit if you want, and you'll start each day right.
Crunchy Granola (from How to Cook Everything)
6 C rolled oats (not quick-cooking or instant)
2 C mixed nuts and seeds (sunflower, sesame, chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.)
1 C dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp ground cinnamon, or to taste
dash salt
1/2 to 1 C honey or maple syrup, or to taste
1 C raisins or other chopped dried fruit
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a big skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat, cook oats until they begin to change color and become fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir frequently.
3. Add the nuts and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the coconut and cook, stirring, 2 more minutes.
4. Add the cinnamon, salt and sweetener, stir, and place in 9X13" pan. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice during that period.
5. Remove the pan. Add the dried fruit, stir, and cool pan on a rack, continuing to stir once in a while until the granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container. If you want to store it longer than a week, keep it in the refrigerator.
