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Granola


AlliK

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Since it's a breakfast food and I'm not sure that it merits it's own topic, does anyone have good recipes for granola to share? Preferably a little on thh lighter side...
When we lived in the Mojave desert and went out hiking nearly every weeked, we field-tested a lot of different granola recipes. This one ended up being our favorite:

VANILLA-SCENTED GRANOLA

Makes ~8 cups

1/3 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and position a rack in the middle of the oven. In a small saucepan or microwave safe container, heat the oil and honey together to a simmer, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. In large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, brown sugar, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Pour the hot liquid over the oat mixture and stir well until thoroughly mixed.

Spread the granola on a half-sheet pan that has been lightly-oiled or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake the granola until golden brown, stirring occasionally, ~30 minutes. Let cool completely on the sheet pan and then store in an airtight container.

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Thanks for sharing this recipe, mktye! I made some as a Christmas gift this weekend, and it turned out beautifully. After starting the recipe I realized I didn't have cinnamon (who doesn't have cinnamon??), so I subbed in a bit of cardamom to compensate and stirred in some chopped dried cherries. I think next time I might lower the sugar a bit because it was a bit sweet for my taste, but this is a really solid, basic recipe, and I'm enjoying munching on the "overage" from the gift container. :lol:

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This is more of a template than a recipe; I adapted it from a B&B in Santa Fe.

Mix 1lb rolled oats, 1/2c each oat bran and wheat germ, 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon. 1/4 sunflower seeds, and 1 1/2 c mixed nuts.

In a separate bowl combine 1/2 each maple syrup, honey, and plain oil, and 2 tablespoons vanilla, then combine with the dry ingredients. Spread this all out in a large baking pan (I think I use an 11x15, can't recall just now) and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, stirring two or three times. Remove from oven and add 2c mixed dried fruit.

What I like about this recipe is the flexibility; I can do just blueberry and almond, for example, or pecan and cherry, or macadamia and coconut, or use up all the small amounts of assorted fruits and nuts that collect in the refrigerator over the course of a few months. I've also found that it doesn't suffer if you're a bit short of any ingredient, and you can leave out the bran and germ if you want, and use more honey and less maple syrup, and so on.

It freezes very well without losing much flavor over the course of three months or so, and thaws fast.

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My templates:

Alton Brown and Martha Stewart

I take a little from each and pretty much have P's attitude. Fond of combo of cashews and almonds and long, slow method of the recipe from AB. Prefer keeping things less sweet and lately have been adding pepitos.

I also freeze my granola and rather than adding dried fruit while preparing the mix, I just keep a variety on hand and toss some in w fresh fruit and yogurt if the mood strikes.

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When we lived in the Mojave desert and went out hiking nearly every weeked, we field-tested a lot of different granola recipes. This one ended up being our favorite:

VANILLA-SCENTED GRANOLA

Makes ~8 cups

1/3 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and position a rack in the middle of the oven. In a small saucepan or microwave safe container, heat the oil and honey together to a simmer, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. In large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, brown sugar, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Pour the hot liquid over the oat mixture and stir well until thoroughly mixed.

Spread the granola on a half-sheet pan that has been lightly-oiled or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake the granola until golden brown, stirring occasionally, ~30 minutes. Let cool completely on the sheet pan and then store in an airtight container.

I'm sorry mktye's not around anymore, but this is a great granola recipe.  I've made it for my husband when he's going on bike trips.

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