Thursday, June 11, 2009

Classic Granola


Recently, a dear friend of mine made a couple versions of granola bars for her family. She graciously brought over samples of each kind for me and my children to try. The verdict on the taste? They were great! Healthy. Homemade. Packed with nutritious, whole foods that were flavorful. The best part of all was that my kids ate them willingly and joyfully.

I decided it was time to make some classic granola on my own. Something to throw over yogurt for breakfast. Something to toss into a bowl for snacks. Something crunchy, flavorful, and healthy. I left a bowl of it on the kitchen island, without saying anything to anyone, only to find it nearly gone by the end of the day. I overheard my husband commenting to one of the kids, while both them were grabbing another handful of granola, about how good it tasted.

To me, nothing spells success more than both the gourmet in the family and the picky eater enjoying the same food together.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup walnuts, broken into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup blanched almonds, halved
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey, or agave nectar
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 cup raisins, or any other dried fruit of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix first 6 ingredients together in large bowl.



2. Heat maple syrup and honey together with oil in a small saucepan, whisking occasionally until warm.


3. Pour mixture over dry ingredients; stir with spatula until mixture is thoroughly coated.

4. Turn mixture onto an 11-by-7-inch jelly roll pan, spreading mixture in an even layer. Bake stirring, and respreading mixture into an even layer every 5 minutes, until granola is light golden brown, about 15 minutes.


5. Immediately turn granola onto another jelly roll pan to stop cooking process. Stir in raisins, then spread granola evenly in pan; set on a wire rack and allow to cool to room temperature.

6. Loosen dried granola with a spatula; store in an airtight container.



Recipe from Cook's Illustrated

Yields: 7-8 cups. Each 1/4 cup serving contains: Calories 140; Total Fat 8.0g; Saturated Fat 3.1g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 2mg; Total Carbohydrates 15.8g; Dietary Fiber 1.9g; Sugars 7.5g; Protein 3.1g; Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 3%; Iron 5%

3 comments:

Four for France said...

Just made this... another winner from Mama Hollioni. David is a major connoisseur of granola, and he requested this for his Father's Day Breakfast. He is totally going to LOVE it!

Mamahollioni said...

The winner is actually from Cook's Illustrated...my favorite source for tried and true recipes that are great every time!!

Anonymous said...

Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.