Maple Granola
When getting ready for guests, we often whip up a batch of our favorite granola. Its a crowd favorite, easy to make in large batches, and it smells great baking (while you rush around cleaning up the house)! As side benefits, it stores well in the freezer for several months, makes an excellent last minute host gift, and serves as a handy snack.
I've been working on perfecting this granola for a few years. It started with a basic version adapted from Alton Brown, and has evolved from there through years of R&D (i.e. bowls and bowls of granola). Some of my most technical research has consisted of making two similar batches (say one with brown sugar the other with honey)...leaving both out for guests over the weekend, and seeing which disappeared fastest. All this has led the tried and true recipe below. It can be modified to incorporate your favorite nuts, dried fruit, or other goodies after it is baked without changing the base ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups oats, old fashioned rolled
- 1 cup almonds, slivered or chopped
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 3/4 cup coconut, shredded & unsweetened preferably
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, dark
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup oil, canola
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, kosher
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 250.
- Mix dry ingredients (oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar) until fully incorporated.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in maple syrup, oil, and salt.
- Mix thoroughly and pour onto 2 sheet pans (clean up is much easier if you put down silicone baking sheets or parchment).
- Press mixture down firmly so that it forms a fairly solid even mass, this will help it to clump later.
- Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, rotate baking sheets half way through the bake time to ensure even browning. Note: I do not stir mine while it is baking in order to maximize the clumping.
- Remove from oven when your grains look golden brown (may be slightly more or less time then indicated depending on your oven).
- Transfer to a large bowl and add vanilla extract and extra salt to taste if you like your granola on the salty-sweet side.
- Cool 10 minutes, pour into bowl, eat
Chewy Coconut Honey Granola
Madeline's grandparents from Indiana arrived for a visit this week. It was lovely support to have in the midst of our coordination and response to Hurricane Mathew. With grandparents here to watch Madeline in the early morning hours, we made a big batch of Chewy Coconut Honey Granola to feed the early risers. This Chewy Coconut Honey Granola is our favorite here in Haiti. It is dead simple to make, and a fantastic balance between sweet and salty with a satisfying chew.
Dark Chocolate Pretzel Granola Bars
I have a family brimming with athletes; there are triathaloning uncles, cyclist aunts, a few who even go to iron man extremes, there are high jumping cousins, long distance winning boys and record setting girls. This weekend is the Pittsburgh Marathon, where over 30, 000 people will race through our beautiful city, up hills, over bridges and across the three rivers. Paul and I, along with our hounds, will be there to cheer on my sister as she continues the family tradition of athleticism and runs the half-marathon! In the spirit of pre-race carb loading, (and middle of the race snacking for the loyal fans), we offer you these delicious dark chocolate-pretzel granola bars. These granola bars are infinitely more delicious and healthy then their store-bought peers. I like to make a big batch of granola bars and freeze them individually wrapped. So while others race, jump, bike and swim, we will be happily cheering and snacking on these tasty bars!
Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal
Mornings around our house typically involve a lot of bleary-eyed animal wrangling with infrequent interludes of serene calm involving both breakfast and the news. Last week, Paul upped the ante when he started classes for his second Masters degree, this one in Public Health. Between full time work, a 2 hour commute each day and now evening classes, we needed a new weekday breakfast strategy. Enter Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal in jars. In this smartly conceived dish, Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal is cleverly baked up in small canning jars, which, when cooled, can be lidded and refrigerated for up to a week for later reheating. This is a winner breakfast that we warm-up in the morning with a dash of milk, perfect for eating on the go. For those of you who are unfamiliar with baked oatmeal, it is somewhere between a less sweet fruit crisp and porridge (oatmeal) and thanks to being chock full of whole grains and nuts, it makes for a substantial breakfast. We found the addition of strawberry and rhubarb at the bottom of the jar to be a good incentive to keep digging into our baked oatmeal. Warmly spiced with cinnamon and orange, Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal is a filling, healthy, and make-ahead way to tackle morning meals for busy week-days.
Chocolate Maple Granola with Quinoa and Cranberries
This week I took a stand against the breakfast industrial complex. Sunday for breakfast, I thought I’d go carnivorous, and ate a plate heaped high with Amish summer sausage. In honor of meatless Monday, I thought I’d swing vegetarian, and polished off a bowl of leftover garlicky lentil salad with goat cheese. Tuesday at 6am, I started to worry that I might not be getting my daily serving of fruits and vegetables, and munched away on snow peas, carrots, and bell peppers while I was getting ready for work. Don’t worry, I also ate string cheese for protein! This morning I was out of time and thinking that I might want to dip towards the sweet side, unfortunately things got a bit sticky when I tried to juggle spoonful’s of Nutella while driving. Paul, no stranger to my breakfast rebellions, calmly continued eating his grape nuts. Now that I’ve gotten that all out of system, I am ready for a spiffed-up breakfast classic. So when I got home from work today, I made a big batch of Chocolate Maple Granola with Quinoa and Cranberries. This chocolaty, crunchy granola is somewhere between breakfast and dessert, a good place to be in my mind, and with the combination of nuts, oats, and quinoa, provides a complete protein rich meal that keeps me energized through the whole day.
Easy Coconut Baked Oatmeal
We have been in Honduras this past week for work meetings with our regional colleagues. One thing that makes our organization unique, is an emphasis on cultivating relationships and being a good host. In this spirit, our Honduras-based supervisors welcomed us into their home with delicious home cooked meals, among them a scrumptious breakfast of baked oatmeal with fresh strawberries. Not only did we stuff ourselves, but coincidentally, we had been experimenting with our own baked oatmeal recipe over the past month. Our version of Easy Coconut Baked Oatmeal is a hearty, crunchy, warm and filling breakfast. This simple to make breakfast dish will perfume your house with cinnamon and oats and is best hot out of the oven, doused in cold milk, a perfect meal to share with guests.
If you want to try out a spring-ish baked oatmeal recipe, check out our Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal.
