Granola

, Will Kahn-Greene | share this (mastodon)
Note: This is an old post in a blog with a lot of posts over a long span of time. The world has changed, technologies have changed, and I've changed. It's likely this is out of date, the code doesn't work, the ideas haven't aged well, or the ideas were terrible to begin with. Let me know if you think this is something that needs updating.

My mother made great granola growing up. I think she got the recipe from her mother. I know my sister makes it, too--it's good stuff.

I keep losing the recipe, though, so I figured I'd post it in my blog. I'm not an aspiring chef, this isn't my hobby, and I don't watch the Food Channel. So... this is probably a once-only recipe blogging experience.

  • 4 cups - rolled oats

  • 1 1/2 cups - shredded unsweetened coconut [1]

  • 1 cup - wheat germ

  • 1 cup - chopped nuts [2]

  • 1 cup - unsalted hulled sunflower seeds

  • 1/2 cup - sesame seeds

  • 1 cup - honey

  • 1 cup - oil [3]

  • 1 teaspoon - vanilla extract

  1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. I don't follow this step... I heat the oven to 300 degrees. However, when I moved in my oven had no markings on the dial so I wrote them in with a Sharpie and it's not clear to me that my markings match up with reality. YMMV, but the key is not to burn your granola.

  2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Sometimes I throw other stuff in, too--whatever I have lying around: flax seeds, wire-cut oats, extra sesame seeds, ...

  3. Heat the honey in a small pot and mix in the oil and the vanilla. You just have to heat it enough such that the honey and oil mix.

  4. Mix it all in the big bowl.

  5. Spoon the granola onto a couple of baking pans that are 1 inch deep and like 9x13. If they're cookie sheets you're going to have a hell of a time stirring the granola--it'll get everywhere.

  6. Spread the granola out so that it's not too thick anywhere.

  7. Put the pans in the oven.

  8. Every 5 to 10 minutes, take the pans out of the oven, stir the granola around and then put them back in. I swap which pan is on top and which is on bottom because my oven is hotten on the bottom than the top. Bake for no more than 30 minutes total.

  9. Your granola is done when it's toasty brown. Your granola is overdone if it's dark brown and/or black.

  10. I take it out, leave the pans on the stove to cool, and do some other stuff for 45 minutes. Then I take a spatula, break up the granola, and in the messiest possible way pour it into large yogurt containers.

Sometimes I throw in dried fruit like raisens in.

That's it!

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