I am obsessed with granola. I don't know what caused this to happened, but at some point this past year I started eating granola for breakfast as often as possible. It's not exactly the healthiest breakfast on the planet, but I'm careful with portion control and I eat it with some milk and plain Greek yogurt. Things could be worse.
One of the reasons this granola obsession is so odd is I really dislike cereal. I would rather skip breakfast than eat cereal. How is granola different? I think it has something to do with cereal's one-note flavor profile and its rapid descent into soggitude, whereas a small portion of (good) granola is full of different flavors and textures while staying crisp and crunchy as you eat.
Homemade granola is way, way cheaper to make than the pricey bags available at most grocery stores and it is really easy to make. I haven't been making it for myself lately, because if it's in the house I'll eat it, but along came Baked Sunday Mornings with the perfect excuse to bake up a batch. The Easy Homemade Granola from Baked New Frontiers is one of the easiest granola recipes you're likely to find and the mix-ins (almonds, hazelnuts, raisins, and dried cherries) offer some variety without being too "out there".
However, I've made (and eaten) granola often enough that I have a firm opinions on what I don't want in my granola, which includes whole nuts of any variety (I think they should be chopped) and especially not almonds. I really like almonds ground up in things (macarons, marzipan, almond croissants, bostock all spring to mind), but not almonds as a whole nut. So, I took a lot of liberties with this recipe from BAKED. It's still an easy homemade granola, but it's certainly not the original BAKED granola. Instead, I made a mash-up of BAKED's and Eleven Madison Park's granola, because Eleven Madison Park's granola is the best granola .... when you get it from the restaurant. The published recipe isn't quite the same sadly (neither the NYTimes.com paywall version nor the Serious Eats version nor the cookbook version), I think there is an ingredient or three missing/modified, plus it's too salty. Once you cut down the salt, it's a good facsimile of the real thing, so I merged the mix-ins from Eleven Madison Park with the base from BAKED, which shortens the baking time by about 10-15 minutes and eliminates the need to dirty a saucepan.
It's not explicitly stated in most granola recipe headers, but I think it's worth mentioning:
-It's important that the dried fruit gets mixed in at the end, rather than at the beginning. If you bake the granola with the dried fruit in the mix, the dried fruit will dry out more, becoming rock hard and basically inedible. If you really want to incorporate your fruit into the granola before baking, so the fruit is incorporated into any clusters that may form, you should soak your fruit for 30 minutes in warm water (with a hefty splash of brandy/rum/whiskey for some extra flavor), drain the plumped, soaked fruit, and then proceed with adding it to your granola.
One of the best things about homemade granola is you can easily make it your own signature granola by modifying the mix-ins according to your preferences. Maybe you love whole nuts in your granola. Maybe you had nuts period, but love dried fruit. Maybe you only eat chocolate granola. Maybe you want to reduce the amount of sugar. Trial and error with homemade granola doesn't have nearly the potential for calamity that trial and error with a cake has, plus it's easier to bake off small portions of the recipe to check your ideas, so you can experiment without much fear of wasting your precious ingredients.
I realize what I made is somewhat divergent from the original recipe, but the easy homemade spirit still remains! I wrote out my version below, since I thought it would be easiest to follow that way. I think my version is delicious (and so does Caleb). It's a little salty, a little sweet, a little tangy from the tart cherries, with just a hint of coconut, and the perfect amount of crunch from the pepitas and chopped pistachios. I didn't get a huge number of giant clumps in my granola, but I think you need more oil or liquid sugar or frothy egg whites (or all three) in order to achieve the perfect clumpy granola. Check out the original recipe from BAKED New Frontiers at Baked Sunday Mornings and see what the other bakers thought of this delicious granola.
Easy Homemade Granola
Ingredients
- 2 cups (200 grams) rolled oats
- ⅓ cup pepitas raw pumpkin seeds
- ⅓ cup pistachios chopped
- ⅓ cup shredded coconut unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt preferably Diamond Crystal
- 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ¼ cup (80 grams) maple syrup preferably Grade B
- ¼ cup (65 grams) light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup dried cherries tart
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, toss the oats together with the pepitas, pistachios, coconut, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla until combined.
- Pour the maple syrup mixture over the oat mixture, then toss with your hands to evenly coat the dry ingredients with the liquid. Gather up a handful of the oats mixture into your fist, squeeze gently to press together, and gently place the clump on the lined sheet. Repeat with the remaining granola mix.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven, use a metal spatula to gently flip sections of the granola. Return to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes until evenly golden browned.
- Remove the toasted granola from the oven and let it cool completely. Sprinkle the cherries over the granola, gently transfer to an airtight container, and store at room-temperature for up to one week.
