Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Another Granola Recipe

And by "another", I don't mean that I've written one before, I just mean that there are so many different recipes out there! It's really kinda impossible to follow a recipe when it comes to granola. There are so many ingredients to choose from, and so many possibilities. So I'm offering here, just another possibility. :) Change the variables to make one that pleases you most!

Yummy Granola
adapted from here & here & here

dry ingredients:
2.5 cups oats
1/3 cup flax seed meal
1/2 cup coconut
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

wet ingredients:
1/3 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

dried fruit:
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup cherries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a (very) large bowl, stir dry ingredients until well distributed. Add wet ingredients & blend until the mixture is coated evenly. Spread mixture into a cookie pan that has sides and place in oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

I like my granola rather crispy, but if you prefer yours not so crunchy, make sure to check on it earlier & make sure that it's not getting too brown for you. It will harden out of the oven, so there's no need to bake it until it looks completely solid.

6 comments:

Alex said...

Ooh, this was so yummy that I hid it from my roommate to devour it in solitude. He did catch me brandishing the carrot cake (about which he said "make sure you tell Sarah that Germany gives her 9.9 out of 10. It tastes like real carrot cake should!" but then, again he also said that people who do Capoeira are gay, so whatever...)

PLEASE let me know before you attempt the dulce de leche! It's hard to try it in the USA (y'all do something funky with your milk) but I can give you a couple of family tips.

Sarah said...

Ooooh ooooh oooh, please please give me tips! I've heard of recipes that just use sweetened condensed milk but I would rather make it from regular milk, if possible (now I don't know if it is!).

I'm so glad you liked the carrot cake. :) The recipe will be posted momentarily...

Alex said...

Yes, you can, do it's a lot trickier than the condensed milk one. I suggest you try both at the same time so you can compare and decide whether you taste a difference, and take the easy road if you don't.

For the real one, you should get organic full fat milk - the more natural, the tastier (it would be ideal if you get to milk a cow, but we'll make do with organic milk otherwise.) My granny does it (roughly) like this (and prepare the old arm, because you're supposed to stir once every couple of minutes):

1. boil one liter of milk with a vanilla bean thingy; . when it rises, add 200 g of sugar (my mom adds a bit of ... sodium bicarbonate?? it's a white powder that burns in the milk and gives it the characteristic brownish color, but my granny thinks it's yummier without). After a long while (sic -I think it's about 45 mins) you'll notice it's getting much denser. Make sure you stir constantly in this stage. And since you like trying things :) I suggest you have a few small bowls ready and you take out a spoonful into one of them every 5 mins or so, and then you'll have a variety of densities.

So, potentially, if you do the condensed milk one as well, you could have 4 different ddl to try. And if you don't like one, just let me know and I'll help you get rid of it - no hassle!

Alex said...

Look, I found an Argie's cooking blogspot, although her proportions are slightly different (she has 500 g of sugar for 2 1/2 l, so it's less sugary in her case.)

http://lamajuluta.blogspot.com/2005/11/dulce-de-leche-casero.html

eatme_delicious said...

Mmm delicious. I haven't tried adding peanut butter or apple sauce to granola - must try that! I always replace the oil with fruit juice though.

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.