Thursday, August 6, 2009

Crunchy, Granola Types

Around my house, we eat eggs for breakfast about every other day. Scrambled, frittata-ed, omelet-ized, poached-Glenn crafts up any number of egg incarnations and I happily chow down. On the in-between days, though, when eggs aren't on the menu, I'm usually in charge of cooking up the most important meal of the day. 
During the cooler months, that is almost always steel-cut, or Scottish, oats. Slow-cooked for 30 minutes, I ladle up hearty bowls of oats, and adorn them with honey, milk, and a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. In the middle of summer, forget about all that hot-bowl-of-dense-oats business. I still want hearty, only minus the heat. 
And that is why granola exists, to eat for breakfast when the mercury is too high to cook anything else. After a bit of experimenting, and an auspicious NYTimes article, I've found the perfect granola recipe. It couldn't be more simple. You assemble your ingredients, dump them all in a bowl, give 'em a good stir, and then bake for 45 minutes. Easy peasy, and delicious, to boot! Now, if only I could figure out how to get the cats to make up a nice pot of Earl Grey each morning....

Perfect Granola, For Crunchy Types 
(adapted from Melissa Clark's Olive Oil Granola with Dried Apricots and Pistachios)

The Goods:
-3 c. whole, old-fashioned rolled oats
-1 c. whole, raw almonds
-1/2 c. pumpkin seeds, roasted
-1/2 c. sunflower seeds, roasted
-1 c. unsweetened, unsulphured dried coconut
-1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
-3/4 c. maple syrup
-1/4 c. light brown sugar
-1 tsp. sea salt 
-2 tsp. cinnamon, ground
-2 tsp. cardamom, ground
-1/2 c. raisins
-1/2 c. dried apricots, chopped

The Deal:
-Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. 
-Place all ingredients except for raisins and apricots in a large bowl. Stir to coat evenly. 
-Spread mixture evenly onto a large, rimmed cookie sheet. 
-Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. 
-Remove cookie sheet from oven, cool 10 minutes, transfer contents to a large mixing bowl, add raisins and apricots, and stir to combine. 
-Store in an airtight container and muncha-muncha!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

YUM YUM. I`m starving!

nicole said...

yum! i'd love to sprinkle a handful of that over some good greek yogurt in the morning. such a great gotta-get-me-some photo.

Anonymous said...

Mom and Nannie say "sounds good to me" ! ! ! You have our permission to send us a LARGE SAMPLE ! ! ! ! !Love from both of us !

Walk said...

I was actually thinking to myself this morning of making granola to take with me to work...

Anonymous said...

I think making some granola is in order!

Chppie said...

Whole oats? Did you mean oat groats? Seems to me that'd be hard on the teeth.

Recipe looks tasty. And easy is always good!

Joy B. (blog coming soon) said...

ah...need a real reason to make your own everything? not really, but if you did...read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

the last line sums it all up...grab a cup of coffee and real the whole article...

Joy B. (blog coming soon) said...

ah...i already see a quote from michael pollan on ur site...

Ashley English said...

Thanks for the incentive to clarify, chppie. What I meant were whole, old-fashioned, rolled oats. Yeah, whole, or steel-cut oats, might wear your teeth down to nubs!

G said...

This sounds just scrumptious...not to mention healthy and frugal! I may just whip up a batch to tempt my husband away from a recent drive through for breakfast nasty habit he's developed. Thanks!

kelly said...

oh. my. goodness. i recently tried this granola and it is perhaps the best thing ever.

TrishC said...

I just took a pan of this granola out of the oven, and it is delish! I will definitely be making it again, though next time I think I might like the idea of some flax seed, and may cut down on the sweetness, though just a tad. Overall, this is bound to be a welcome addition to our breakfast table. Thanks for sharing!