Day 26: Granola

Okay. Fuel for journey. Here we go…

I’m a big fan of homemade granola bars for the following reasons:

• they’re super easy to make
• cheaper than buying AND less waste in packaging
• you get to pick your own flavor combinations
• the sweeteners we use are healthier and can be locally found at farmer’s markets
• baking them makes your home smell AMAZING
• you can give new life to leftover pantry bits (no kidding, one of the best batches I’ve made was with the dregs of cinnamon shredded wheat. Killer!)
• you get to “nutsmash.” It’s fun…. read on. I’ll show you what I mean…

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The Basic Ingredient Outline:

Dry:

• 6 cups Oats*
• 1 ½ cups Dried Fruits
• 1 cup Nuts

Wet:

• 16 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• ¾ to 1 cup Brown Sugar
• ¾ to 1 cup honey OR syrup**

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Today, we’re making Apricot Cranberry with Almonds and Molasses.

 

I used:

• 6 cups thick cut organic oats
• ¾ cup chopped dried organic apricots
• ¾ cup dried organic cranberries
• 1 cup salted almonds
• 16 Tablespoons unsalted organic butter
• ¾ cup organic brown sugar
• ½ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup molasses

 

Preheat your oven to 300°

Start by melting down all of your wet ingredients in a small sauce pan

until they look like this:

You want this hot, but watch it so it doesn’t boil over.

 

While that’s heating up, put the nuts in a large plastic bag, get yourself a wooden spoon and a three-year-old***, and do this:

(It helps if you leave a small opening in the top of the bag so you don’t pop it…)

 

Throw the nuts, oats, and fruit in a large mixing bowl,

and pour the hot syrup/honey magma over the top.

 

If you want a crunchier bar, simply mix the ingredients until combined.
If you like a chewier bar, mix until the oats get a little soft from the hot magma.

 

 

Now, this is important. You must “grease”**** your cookie sheet, put a piece of parchment over the grease, and grease the parchment.

(Do this or you’ll be sending me angry comments about how impossible it was to get your granola bars out of the pan so you threw the whole thing, cookie sheet and all, out a two story window. Don’t do that. It’s wasteful. And you could severely harm the unlucky bloke beneath your window.)

Then, dump the oat-lot on top of the parchment and spread it out with the back of a spoon. When it’s evenly dispersed, give it a good press and mash so it’s tightly packed.

Bake for 20-30 minutes at 300°, until golden brown. Granola will over brown and burn quickly, so watch it carefully near the end of your bake time.

Rest it on your stove top and set a timer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, cut the granola into whatever size bars you prefer, but DON’T REMOVE THEM until they’ve completely cooled.

Once cool, they’ll break apart easily and still retain the shape you cut. Wrap your bars in cling wrap for individual servings, or stack them up in a large container. These are good at room temperature, though I’d refrigerate them after a week (if they last that long). You can also freeze them and keep a stash for random road trips…

There, you see? you’ve just raised the bar.
(Bad, bad, pun. I know.)

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* If you want a VERY chewy granola bar, use quick oats. You can also substitute a portion of the oats with cereal or other grains.
** I have used honey, brown rice syrup, agave, and maple syrup (in various combinations) for this. Any of them work and are completely up to your taste/nutritional preference. If you use molasses as I did in this batch, add it to the syrup meltdown.
*** three-year-old not required.
**** I use Spectrum organic vegetable shortening, but you can substitute butter.