Cranberry Almond Granola

I love Cheerios.  Always have, always will.  But on occasion I need to eat something else for breakfast. (I have been devoted to them for the past 25 years, so I think it's okay to cheat on them once in a while).  When the mood strikes, and I don't have time for anything elaborate, yogurt and granola is one of my favorite combinations.  I usually only have it on the rare occasion that I have some store-bought granola around, which happens, you know, every few years.  Which really isn't enough.  

Last Friday it occurred to me that making granola probably isn't terribly hard.  A quick foodnetwork.com search turned up a simple and relatively healthy cranberry granola from Giada De Laurentiis.  I streamlined the recipe by replacing the mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds with all sunflower seeds (since I already had some, and I don't really care for pumpkin seeds as much--too tough!).  However, if you have both then I'm sure you can do a 50/50 mix, or use just pumpkin seeds if you really like them.   I also upped the amounts of oats and nuts, because I felt like there was too much liquid and it needed more stuff to soak it up.  The only "unusual" ingredient in this recipe is unsweetened cranberry juice, which I didn't realize was a marketed product, but I found it easily in the "natural foods/healthy" section of my local Shaw's.  There are a number of brands, some quite expensive, but the Shaw's/Wild Harvest brand was reasonably priced, and the bottle isn't too big, which is good, because there's not a lot to do with excess unsweetened cranberry juice (except make lots and lots of granola!).  This recipe comes together quickly, is mostly hands-off, and the result is a sweet and tart, slightly chewy granola that I liked so much I made a second batch a few days later. 

Cranberry Almond Granola (Adapted from Giadi De Laurentiis, www.foodnetwork.com) 

Makes about 6 cups

* A generous 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds, preferably raw, unsalted

* Nonstick cooking spray

* 1/3 cup maple syrup (I like the deep flavor of grade B, but anything you have on hand will be great, as long as it's REAL--no Aunt Jemima, please!)

* 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark is fine)

* 1/2 cup unsweetened cranberry juice

* 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

* 2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

* A heaping 1/2 cup almonds, slivered or sliced work well.  

* 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (Kosher salt is fine too, if you don't have sea salt)

* 1 cup dried cranberries

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the sunflower seeds on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly toasted and fragrant.  Let them cool.  Reduce the oven temp to 325 degrees F.

In the mean time, combine the maple syrup, cranberry juice, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small saucepan.  Cook, over medium heat, stirring a few times, just until the sugar had dissolved.  Set aside to cool.

In a medium mixing bowl, toss together the oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, and salt.  Pour the cranberry syrup mixture over the oat mixture, and stir with a spoon or spatula until everything is evenly distributed. 

Spray your cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray, and spread the oat and nut mixture over it in an even layer.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and add the cranberries, and use a spatula to stir the mix around, fluff it, and incorporate the cranberries.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until the mixture starts to brown.  Cool the granola completely, and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Enjoy on yogurt with honey or rhubarb compote

Solutions for Trader Joe's Overindulgence

 

So this is what happens when I go to Trader Joe's: I get so excited by all the different nuts and dried fruits available, because they are SO CHEAP compared to the Stop 'n Shop on Nantucket, so I stock up on way too many bags of almonds, walnuts, pecans, cherries, apricots...the list goes on. I make a few recipes with them, and then the partially used bags get buried in my "partially used bags of fruits and nuts" container, which is on the top shelf of my pantry, and then I forget that I have them.... And then a few months (or a year) later I'm like, holy nuts, what the heck am I going to do with all this stuff?!!?

If you ever share this issue, then I have a solution. Homemade granola bars. They're perfect because you can use any fruit and nut remnants you may have, since you don't need a lot of any one ingredient.
  
In honor of the new year (and all those people who are committing to getting healthy), many Food Network chefs have been featuring healthy recipes on their shows. According to the Barefoot Contessa these granola bars are "so healthy" and full of things that are "so good for you." While I don't totally agree with these statements, (butter, sugar, honey?) it didn't stop me from making them because they are full of things that taste good, and they're not horrendously unhealthy, either.

Ina's recipe, found below, is pretty good, but I did make a few substitutions: I took out the cup of coconut and increased the oats by 3/4 of a cup and the almonds by 1/4 cup (and in doing so reduced the amount of saturated fat by a buttload, since coconut is loaded with the stuff). I also replaced the dried dates, which I don't care for, with dried Bing cherries, which I adore (and there were about 4 bags kicking around in the depths of my pantry). The nice thing about this kind of recipe is that as long as the quantities of dry goods follows the original recipe, it will work out. Other good add-ins could be dried blueberries, dried plums (always sounds better than prunes), raisins, dried strawberries, sunflower seeds, or anything else that tickles your palate. 


Homemade Granola Bars (adapted from Ina Garten)

* 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
* 1 cup sliced almonds
* 1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
* 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ (often found in the cereal aisle near the oatmeal)
* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2/3 cup honey
* 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 1/2 cups of chopped dried fruit, such as cherries, dates, apricots, or cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 by 12-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Spray the paper with cooking spray.
 

2. Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut (if using) together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

3. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

4. Combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dried fruit and mix well.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Using your wet fingers or a silicone spatula, press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

 Enjoy!