There are a lot of granola recipes out there. Maybe you’ve even tried one or two. The Damsel doesn’t usually get this worked up about a recipe, but she LOVES this one, adapted from the recipe in one of her favorite cookbooks, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. She loves it so much that it’s a little ridiculous.
Maybe you will too. It’s easy, doesn’t have any weird ingredients, and while it does have some oil, it’s not super fatty. Super Fatty! The sound of that makes the Damsel giggle. Sounds like a tubbo superhero, like the Nacho Libre guy.
Ahem.
Follow along, now–no sleeping in the back of the classroom–because the Damsel is going to show you a trick. Get out your 1/3 cup measure, and your 1/4 cup measure.
Over a small mixing bowl, fill the 1/3 cup with vegetable oil, and then pour it from there into the 1/4 cup, letting the excess pour into the mixing bowl. Then pour the remaining 1/4 cup into the mixing bowl. This is a convoluted way of saying we are putting 1/3 cup oil into a bowl, but first getting both of those measuring cups coated with oil. Make sense?
Because now, you need to measure 1/3 cup honey and 1/4 cup maple syrup (perhaps syrup you made yourself, like we did here?) and because you measured the oil first, this sticky stuff will slide right out of the cups. Sweet!
Add 2 tablespoons of water, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and set aside.
Now measure into a large mixing bowl:
- 4 cups of old-fashioned oatmeal
- 1 cup coconut (either sweetened or plain)
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans (or any kind, really)
- 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (the Damsel must make that a heaping 1/4 teaspoon)
- a bitsy of salt, maybe 1/4 teaspoon, but don’t fuss
Stir the dry ingredients together, then pour the honey mixture over the top and mix well. Oh, and somewhere along in here get the oven heating up to 350F.
Line two rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats, if you have such. Spread the granola out, covering the two pans with a thin layer.
Bake for 25 minutes. If you are one of the blessed and have a convection oven, set it for 300 (you know how you usually set convection for 50 degrees cooler?) and it will be perfect after 25 minutes…just getting a teensy bit browned. In a regular oven, you need to babysit it a bit. Check it and see if it’s cooking evenly. You may need to stir half way through or rotate the pans in the oven. It might even need a few more minutes…just don’t let it get overly brown.
Be aware there will be a most heavenly smell in your house at this time.
Let the granola cool, and then transfer to a storage container. The Damsel just picks up the corners of the silicone mat to make that simple. When you eat it, add whatever raisins or chopped dried fruit that you like. The Damsel adores it with raisins and craisins. But she doesn’t put them in the granola to store it…she adds them right before eating, because she likes the granola crunchy and the fruit soft and chewy. That’s her vision of a perfect world.
Can’t it be breakfast time now?
