My Homemade Granola

A Letter of Recommendation

To Whom It May Concern:

Please accept this enthusiastic recommendation for “My Homemade Granola.”  

It is the cat’s meow, the bee’s knees, and da-bom-dot-com, all tossed together and served with a spoon. I’ve heard tell that certain people…OK, one person…has eaten it for breakfast and lunch every day for the past week and still hasn’t gotten tired of it. 

This person starts her day with clumps of this ambrosial concoction on top of her coconut yogurt.  At lunch she dispenses with formality and simply stands at the kitchen counter, cramming successive fistsful of it directly into her gaping maw, bits of oats and nuts tumbling onto the floor as she munches, her faithful dog licking up the stray bits.  A happy arrangement for all concerned.

But, if you can manage to eat it as if you are not a crack addict desperate for a fix, you should.  Because each individual ingredient deserves to be savored, appreciated, lolled about on the tongue.  It’s hard to choose which component is the most deserving of encomium:

Is it the roasted cashew, with its crisp, maple-coated exterior and its buttery-soft inside?

Or perhaps it’s the dried sour cherry, bursting with sweet-tart tanginess?

But really, my money is always on the coconut crisps, toasty and sweet, perfectly offset by the sea salt.

I offer the disclaimer that this is not an entirely original recipe, if such a thing even exists.  A few weeks back, my friend Betsy Gwinn gave me a jar of Eleven Madison Park granola, published on the New York Times cooking blog. It was love at first munch, then I riffed on the recipe to make it my own. My version has slightly humbler ingredients.  I didn’t have any pure maple syrup, so I used Log Cabin.  Turned out great. I also couldn’t find any raw, unsalted pistachios at the grocer, so I subbed in slivered almonds and cashews, and liked it even better. 

Take my word for it: make this granola.  Your house will smell wonderful. And you’ll feel pretty darn accomplished and Pioneer-like, making your own darn breakfast cereal.  I mean, who does that? You do!

Sincerely yours,

The Strawberry Kitchen

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Ingredients

• 4 cups whole oats

• 1/2 cup raw slivered almonds

• 1 cup raw cashews

• 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or chips
  (not shredded coconut)*

• 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup dried sour cherries

Print

Directions

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Line large 13 x 17 rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Toss together in large bowl:  oats, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, coconut and sea salt.
• In small saucepan over medium low heat, stir together syrup, olive oil and brown sugar, until sugar dissolves.
• Pour syrup mixture over oat mixture, and stir very well, until evenly coated.
• Turn oat mixture out onto prepared pan, and spread evenly.
• Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, stirring a couple of times during cooking.
• It will still seem wet at the end of 30 minutes, but will dry and crisp up completely as it cools.
• Add dried cherries.
• Once cool, break up, and try not to eat the entire pan so that you can have some for breakfast tomorrow.
• Stores well in Ball jars.

RECIPE FOR PRINT

My Homemade Granola

Recipe by Betsy OwensCourse: BreakfastDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole oats

• 1/2 cup raw slivered almonds

• 1/2 cup raw cashews

• 1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or chips
  (not shredded coconut)*

• 2 tsp. sea salt

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup dried sour cherries

Directions

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Line large 13 x 17 rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Toss together in large bowl:  oats, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, coconut and sea salt.
• In small saucepan over medium low heat, stir together syrup, olive oil and brown sugar, until sugar dissolves.
• Pour syrup mixture over oat mixture, and stir very well, until evenly coated.
• Turn oat mixture out onto prepared pan, and spread evenly.
• Bake in oven for about 40 minutes, stirring a couple of times during cooking.
• It will still seem wet at the end of 40 minutes, but will dry and crisp up completely as it cools.
• Add dried cherries.
• Once cool, break up, and try not to eat the entire pan so that you can have some for breakfast tomorrow.
• Stores well in Ball jars.

Notes

• Unsweetened coconut, in flake or chip form, can be hard to find. I did find both at Whole Foods, after some careful aisle combing. Photos linked to aid in search