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A Good Dish

making food simpler

Granola – A Pretty Healthy, Tasty and Useful Gift from Your Kitchen

December 7, 2016

Homemade Granola Wood fired Porcelain Mug by Perry Haas
Homemade Granola
Wood fired Porcelain Mug by Perry Haas

I make granola about 3 times a year. Once for the birthday of a dear friend who loves it, perhaps once a year when out-of town friends visit and I need a breakfast to leave out and once at the end of the year for holiday gifts when I don’t feel capable of assembling something more complicated. Granola only takes about an hour to bake, is easy to make and fun to vary.

Oats are the main ingredient but everything may be modified to suit your taste. Use part rolled oats and part rolled barley. If you don’t like almonds or walnuts, use pistachios or hazelnuts. If you prefer pumpkin pie spice or cardamom to cinnamon, go for it. If you want to add dried cherries, goji berries, mulberries or pineapple instead of apricots, dates or raisins, substitute as you please. Even the sweetener is flexible – if you don’t want to use or don’t have maple syrup, use agave, honey or brown sugar. Vanilla is a choice. You could use maple or almond extract or leave it out altogether. You could grate in some lemon or orange zest or add shredded or flaked coconut. The recipe below is the way I prefer it but if you have strong preferences, try them.

Sheet Pan of baked Granola
Sheet Pan of baked Granola

How you package your granola to gift is also up to you. Glass jars are perfect for storing granola so I usually use a Mason jar, with raffia tied around the lid if I am gifting. Cellophane bags wrapped with ribbon work well as would ziploc bags with a pretty label affixed. Including a printed or hand-written recipe is a nice touch and makes it an even more useful present (just punch a hole in the corner of the recipe card and you can tie it on with the ribbon or raffia).

Quart of homemade granola packaged and ready to gift
Quart of homemade granola
packaged and ready to gift

This recipe is lower in oil and sugar than most but it is still not a low calorie food. I enjoy a bowl of granola with milk or yogurt each time I make it but I can’t keep much of it around or I would constantly be snacking on it. Like candied or curried nuts, for me, granola is best made and given away or stored in the freezer for when guests visit. You may have better self-control and in that case, keep a jar in your kitchen for hurried mornings or light dinners on nights you come home too late to cook. At this busy time of year, any lucky recipient will appreciate your healthy and delicious gift.

Granola in a wood fired cup by Perry Haas
Granola in a wood fired cup by Perry Haas

GIFTABLE GRANOLA

  • 6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking, not steel-cut)
  • 1-1 1/2 cups raw pumpkin seeds, hulled
  • 1-1 1/2 cups raw sunflower seeds, hulled
  • 2 cups raw nuts, shelled and coarsely chopped (I use almonds and walnuts but pecans, hazelnuts and pistachios all work)
  • 3 TBs flax seeds
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or avocado, coconut or grape seed)
  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup maple syrup (or honey, agave or brown sugar), depending on how sweet you like it
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, optional
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice, ginger or cardamom), optional
  • 1 tsp salt

Possible add-ins after baking:

  • 1-2 cups of any combination of raisins, currents, chopped dates or apricots, dried cranberries or cherries, chopped dried mango or pineapple, goji berries, mulberries, chopped dried figs, toasted coconut flakes or shredded coconut, chopped dried apples or pears
  • 1-3 TBs chia and/or hemp seeds

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix oil, syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.

Add oats, seeds and nuts and stir until well combined.

Spread the mixture in an even layer on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet (the parchment just makes clean up easier).

Bake, stirring about every 10 minutes, until oats look toasty, about 45 minutes but watch carefully at the end.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with a little salt if you like, and cool completely.

When completely cool, add chopped dried fruit, or whatever you like, and package in jars or bags.

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Filed Under: Breakfast, Products, Recipes Tagged With: breakfast, granola

Comments

  1. Reva cotter says

    December 7, 2016 at 4:21 pm

    This is my all time favorite! Really really beautiful and tastes fantastic!

  2. JUDY HOPELAIN says

    December 7, 2016 at 8:44 pm

    This sounds great! I’m going to try it. Will report back.

    • A Good Dish says

      December 14, 2016 at 4:52 pm

      Look forward to hearing what you think!

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Welcome to A Good Dish

Here you will find recipes and ideas for easy to make and tasty meals, sources for interesting dinnerware on which to serve those meals and resources for ingredients, classes and food related travel. My goal is to make daily cooking simpler and to inspire you to try different recipes beyond the handful you already make repeatedly. I hope that relaying my experiences will enhance yours. Follow along and let me know about your own cooking and food journeys.

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