Granola Again

Dear Michelle,

I feel like it's been taking me forever to get this post up. Days of attempts to sit down and just write it all out have passed, with nothing worthwhile going from my brain to the keyboard. Finally, I have a day with nothing due and nothing pressing to do, and I am sitting with my laptop at the kitchen table, drinking a pot of delicious white tea, determined that today I will successfully tell you how much I love granola.

I've been craving granola ever since I read your post about it. The cooler the weather gets, the better it sounds, and so last weekend, on a cold, rainy day, my good friend Koren came over with her tiny little baby and we made three different kinds of granola. It sounds ambitious, but when you've dedicated the whole day to granola-making and catching up, it's not only do-able, but relaxing.

The rain was blowing against the windows on and off all day, but we were drinking tea in an apartment warmed by the oven and the scent of toasting cinnamon, nuts and oats. Rain can be so nice when you are watching it from inside, and listening to all of the noises that come along with it: the "swoosh" of the cars passing in the street, the pitter-pat on window panes and roofs and in the puddles, and if you are unlucky enough to be outside, on your umbrella, or oppressively on the roof of your car.

Making so many batches of granola does take a little while, but it provided us with the perfect opportunity to chat about various things and play with the baby, who was on the couch with Jeff most of the time. Nothing warms this girl's heart like seeing her fiancee not only playing with the baby he's been tasked with watching, but also appearing to enjoy it. Except, that is, a perfect hot chocolate, and maybe foie gras.

Koren had come loaded with goodies from the Park Slope Food Co-op, which is legendary on this island of overpriced groceries, and we sorted out what variations we were going to make based on what we had all together:

- walnut, pumpkin seed, orange flavored dried cranberries (I love those things!), and dark chocolate
- pecan, dried cherry, meringue bits, and milk chocolate
- cashew, slivered almond, sunflower seed, dried blueberry

I've mentioned before how much I like this recipe from the site that never lets me down, which was the first I ever tried, and the only one I have tried so far. It really makes a great granola, rich and crunchy but not too sweet, and easy to modify. I kept the wet ingredients, the oats, and the sugar constant for the most part, and substituted various other things for those components that really make granola tasty: the nuts, seeds, and fruits. Meringue bits combined with the butteriness of the pecans made the second variation my favorite. The meringue crunches nicely, like "lucky charms marshmallows" (Jeff's words). I also added puffed rice for lightness; it's not all that noticeable, so next time I'll probably double it.

Granola in Three Variations:

1- Walnut, Pumpkin Seed, Orange Flavored Dried Cranberries, and Dark Chocolate

Dry Ingredients:

2 1/2 c oats (rolled, not instant)
1 1/2 c walnuts
1 c raw shelled pumpkin seeds
2 c puffed rice (doubled from the 1c I used; let me know how it works out)
1/4 c sugar (the recipe called for brown, which I didn't have and didn't want to venture out to get, so I added 1t molasses to the wet ingredients. Do either)
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt

3/4- 1 c dried cranberries
4 oz dark chocolate, either chopped or in chips ( I used 6 oz, and maybe I didn't mix it up enough, but parts of it were more like granola candy. Which is all fine and good and scrumptious, and if that's what you want, increase chocolate to 6 oz)

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 c unsweetened applesauce (this is the genius ingredient in this granola, and the reason I will always come back to this recipe. I wish I'd tried pureed pumpkin for this version. I'll try it next time.)
1/4 c rice syrup
1/8 c honey
1T oil (I used walnut; use something either mild or complimentary in flavor)
1t molasses (if white sugar is used above)

Preheat oven to 300 F. Combine all dry ingredients except fruit and chocolate in a large bowl, and wet ingredients in a smaller bowl, and mix each thoroughly. Mix together. Spread uniformly in a large baking sheet, and pop into oven. Stir every 10 minutes to ensure even cooking. At 30-45 minutes, when granola smells toasty and looks golden-brown, pull from oven. Stir, very thoroughly if you like your granola looser, less if you like it clumpy, and add fruit now if you are using it. This is one of those times when you add it till it looks like the right amount. At this point I put it in a large glass baking dish to re-use the baking sheet, but if you are one of those lucky people who has several of these, there's no need for that. Once granola has cooled to warm, but is no longer hot, add chocolate and stir gently to distribute. You do not want the chocolate to uniformly coat the granola; it should retain some of it's shape so that you find it in small clumps.
Let cool completely, and put in glass jars (Koren was prepared and brought some) or large plastic bags.

Variation 2: Pecan, Dried Cherry, Meringue Bits, and Milk Chocolate

Follow above directions, with the following ingredients:

2 c oats
1 1/2 c pecans
2 c puffed rice
2 c crushed meringue cookies
1 c chopped dried cherries
4 oz chopped milk chocolate (wait till just barely warn to mix in the milk chocolate; it has a lower melting temp.)
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt

Wet Ingredients:

use above listed, plus 1 T vanilla


Variation 3: Cashew, Slivered Almond, Sunflower Seed, Dried Blueberry

Dry Ingredients:

2 1/2 c oats
1 1/4 c slivered almonds
2 c puffed rice
1 c cashews
1 c sunflower seeds
1c dried blueberries

Wet Ingredients:

See first variation.

I discovered that mixing all three together is even better than any on it's own. It's a testamentto how good this stuff is that it's almost gone, though we made it last Saturday. I'm not even having it for breakfast, either; this is all snacking.