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Showing posts with label granola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label granola. Show all posts

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Coconut Almond Granola with Four Fruits

 
I know I'm dating myself here, but to the younger generation, let me tell you that Kate Hudson has a mom named Goldie Hawn. Back in the day she made some very funny movies, among them a breakout film called “Private Benjamin.” I'll never forget when she joined the army how surprised she was that it was not at ALL as depicted in the commercials -- no condos, no great meals, no beach vacations. Nope, just marching around in the rain, during which time she recited a rather funny monologue about what she wanted to do, and how she was a “nice person” and shouldn't have to endure such torture. To illustrate her remark she said she never “…went to anyone's house empty-handed.”

Well, I'm pretty much the same. I’m going to dinner tonight and, like Private Benjamin, I never go any place empty-handed, so thought I'd make up some Coconut Almond Granola and take a large jar to the hostess, and two smaller bags to the other couples who will be in attendance. It is so delicious that you can pretty much skip the bananas, milk, yogurt, and spoon, and just dig in!

This is my own personal recipe, a mishmash of a variety of others I've run across over the years. I've found you can pretty much toss in what you like according to what happens to be in your pantry at the time.

Coconut Almond Granola with Four Fruits

4 c. old-fashioned oats

¾ c. sliced almonds

½ c. sweetened flaked coconut
½ c. sunflower, pumpkin, or flax seeds

2/3 c. (packed) brown sugar

1½ t. ground allspice

½ t. kosher salt

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 stick unsalted butter

4 T. honey

½ c. pitted, chopped dates

½ c. dried apricots, quartered

½ c. golden raisins

½ c. raisins, dried cranberries, blueberries, or cherries

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix first 8 ingredients in large bowl. Melt butter with honey in heavy small saucepan over low heat. Pour over granola mixture and toss well. Spread out mixture on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add dried fruits; mix to separate any clumps. Continue to bake until granola is golden brown, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes longer. Cool. Do ahead. Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.


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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Harvest Granola

 

The fall season is one of my favorite times of the year.  There is just something about the picking of apples, the drinking of cider, the big summer harvest that makes me feel all warm and cozy inside.  Or, perhaps it’s the shot of Apple Jack that I put in my cider, who knows?  At any rate, I thought it was time for a new granola recipe featuring fall fruits and seasonal spices.  Mr. O-P made a veritable pig of himself on this, so let me tell you, that is high praise indeed.  It is a delicious way to start your morning, is perfect alone with a drizzle of milk or cream, makes a flavorful crunchy topping to your regular bowl of cereal, can become an elegant dessert layered between pumpkin mousse or yogurt, or a reasonably healthy snack nibbled straight from the bowl. 

Harvest Granola

4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup mixed nuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut 
2/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of cardamom
Pinch of cloves
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter
4 tablespoons honey
1 3-oz. package Melissa’s Dried Apricots, cut in quarters
1/2cup dried apples, cut in quarters
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix first 11 ingredients in large bowl. Melt butter with honey in heavy small saucepan over low heat. Pour over granola mixture and toss well. Spread out mixture on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add dried fruits; mix to separate any clumps. Continue to bake until granola is golden brown, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes longer. Cool. This granola can be made 2 weeks ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.


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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Pumpkin Pie Granola

There is a very sweet blog called Cooking with My Kid that I find such fun to read. In the doing I spotted a pumpkin recipe that I wanted to try. This week I've been all about pumpkin recipes that aren't quite the norm, and here is another, for pumpkin pie granola. It looked easy, and I pretty much had everything in the pantry that I needed in order to make it, so figured, why not? If I make it tonight, breakfast is in the bag for tomorrow morning. The only ingredient I was lacking was pepitas, so I thought I'd pick them up on my way to get a flu shot.  

So, I saw a bag of pumpkin seeds at Walgreen's and bought them. Pumpkin seeds are pepitas, right? That's what the nut vendor on the pier in Virginia Beach told me back in 2000 when he sold me a bag. Well, he lied! They're not! In fact they are nothing at all like pepitas. What they are like is little bits of tree bark -- same flavor, same texture. And if you think I don't know whereof I speak, you're wrong. Back in my college days when I was a geology major I did an entire semester on wild foods - locating, harvesting, turning them into foods to sustain people for weekends at a time. I learned to make tea from sassafras root (this was before, of course, we knew it had hallucinogenic properties), chewed the bark (there, what did I tell you?), and ground thrice boiled acorns into flour to make bread. But this is a topic for later. My point is, I bought the wrong thing.

Not to worry, I am nothing if not the queen of substitution when it comes to cooking and baking, so I made the recipe using pistachios instead. It was good! In fact, as we were watching the rather frantic end of tonight's playoff game between the Phillies and Giants we downed it in large quantities in much the same way you'd gobble popcorn during a horror film.

As good as it was, however, it still wasn't as good as the recipe for fruit and nut granola that I created some time ago. So, since my plan is to give beautifully packaged and labeled cellophane bags of pumpkin pie granola to each guest at the Thanksgiving table (and if you’re one of my guests and reading this...SURPRISE!), I'm going to make some changes to my own recipe and create a new version featuring pumpkin. My thanks, though, to Cooking With my Kid for the great idea.


Here is my original recipe, with planned changes

COCONUT ALMOND GRANOLA with FOUR FRUITS
PUMPKIN PIE GRANOLA

4 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup whole almonds, halved
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2/3 cup (packed) brown sugar or less to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice 2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup solid pack pumpkin
1/2 cup (packed) pitted dates, each cut crosswise into thirds
1/2 cup dried apricots, cut in quarters
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries, blueberries or cherries

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix first 8 7 ingredients in large bowl. Melt butter with honey in heavy small saucepan over low heat, stir in pumpkin. Pour over granola mixture and toss well. Spread out mixture on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add dried fruits cranberries; mix to separate any clumps. Continue to bake until granola is golden brown, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes longer. Cool. Do ahead Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

I'm sure it will be delicious!
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