Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Blueberry Granola

Simple, good, easy.

I like granola, but my kids adore it.  Laine would eat it for three or four meals a day.  Therefore I have been searching for just the right balance of crunch, clump, and flavor (subtle for the kids and yet still interesting for parents).  Commercial granola is a bit pricy, and let's face it...I am kinda stuck on doing things myself.

(Tangent)

I have been on a journey of self discovery lately.  Recently I announced in a room of my closest friends that everything is a competition and that I hate to lose.  Apparently this came as absolutely no surprise to this dear group of geniuses.  I had always thought of myself as uncompetitive because I hated competing. Come to find out I only avoid competitions I am not almost assured of not losing.  Not the most attractive trait.  And it drives you to make granola from scratch.  Darn it!

(Skip to here to avoid (well-written and witty) tangent)

Here is my greatest achievement in granola making.


Leave a comment if you try it!

Dry ingredients:

4 cups oats (if they are all "old fashioned" I process some of them to avoid the breakfast work out)
2 cups coconut (also chopped/processed/blended)
1 pkg graham crackers (smashed/processed/crumbed/blended)
1.5 cups almonds (chopped/you know the drill)

Spices:

2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp sea salt (I have truly fallen in love with Maldon sea salt)

Wet ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (canola, walnut, veggie, grape seed)
1/3 cup honey

After baking additions:

2 cups dried blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F (just for clarity)

Mix dry ingredients and spices.  Mix wet ingredients.  Combine until evenly moistened.  If you like a clumpy granola, add some juice (apple, orange, cranberry-pomagranat...left over from Christmas that you bought in bulk for one little recipe and now have tons left over which you can't drink because you are trying to count calories so you can fit back into your old pants...or whatever).

Spread evenly over a couple greased baking dishes and bake until golden brown (around 35 mins) stirring every 10 minutes or so.  I use two glass casserole dishes, but anything will work.  If you spread it out really thinly, reduce the baking time.

Add the dried fruit and store in an air-tight container.

There you go!  It makes about 6 cups and I would imagine without help it would take about 15 minutes to put together.





No comments:

Post a Comment

If you would like to post a comment without signing in, please choose the Anonymous option.