Now that I’m a health guru you might suspect that I made granola last week because of my new fitness regimen. But you’d be wrong, very wrong indeed; I made granola last week because of the newest cookbook in my collection, a gorgeous cookbook that I bought for my friend Lisa’s 30th birthday and that I secretly wished I’d kept for myself. But then the publisher offered to send me a review copy and I was in heaven. The book in question is “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito of the Baked Bakery in Red Hook and next to Martha Stewart’s Baking Book this may quickly become my favorite baking book in my collection.
Spying this book in the store, looking for a gift for Lisa, and remembering it from David Lebovitz’s Altoid Brownie post, I flipped through it eagerly–admiring the pictures, the layout, and the enticing recipes (their “Sweet & Salty Cake” looks insanely good)–but the thing that really grabbed me was the granola.
Granola? Wait, isn’t granola healthy hippie food that’s supposed to be good for you? Why in the world would you ignore the banana cupcakes, the German Chocolate Cake and the pear plum crisp for granola?!
The answer, I suppose, is that I’ve never really found a granola that I love. I really enjoyed Molly’s chocolate granola, but those bits of chocolate made it so decadent I couldn’t really make it a permanent fixture in my repertoire.
No, I was looking for a life long commitment here. Not a one-night-stand granola, but a granola I could commit to. And that’s exactly what I found in the pages of “Baked.”
It’s a simple enough granola: oats, cinnamon, honey, brown sugar cook together and then nuts are added (almonds and hazelnuts) and, at the end, golden raisins and dried cherries (I didn’t have dried cherries, but I wished I did: I love them.) Still, somehow the balance of all the elements yielded just the granola I was craving; it’s sweet, but not overbearing, and it feels more naughty than it actually is. I ate it all last week and I plan to make another batch this week to supplement my hours slaving away at the gym. (Ok, more like 20 minutes slaving away at the gym.) But it’s a perfect pick-me-up after the gym and before dinner. I serve it, as you can see in the picture above, with Fage yogurt (0% fat), a drizzle of honey and a cut-up banana. But you can serve it however you want; you can even eat it plain. It’s just that good.
Easy Homemade Granola
from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole almonds [Note: I used slivered almonds, and they worked fine.]
1/3 cup whole hazelnuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried cherries
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.
In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.
Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture.
Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.
Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.
Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.
Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the raisins and cherries over the granola…
and use your hands to transfer it to an airtight container.
The granola will keep for 1 week.
Related Posts:
“Baked” Oatmeal Cookies with Cardamom
Crispy Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Ooohhh…I love the idea of dried cherries…not such a fan of raisins in granola for some reason, but the cherries do appeal. I am totally obsessed with Nigella Lawson’s granola recipe. Not too dissimilar this this, but she adds lots of spices and seeds. And the applesauce makes the house smell like apple pie when the granola is baking.
That looks awesome. I’ve been telling myself to make granola…someday soon. I love all the ingredients here, except maybe I’ll replace raisins with dried blueberries. Yumm. :)
Ooo, I’ve been meaning to make my own granola for the past little while but have yet to get around to it. Your recipe looks pretty convincing – I don’t like my granola to be too sweet either.
I’m a little surprised to see that you’re going for the 0% fat yogurt, though, Adam. I started eating yogurt with 2.5% and I’ve never turned back to 0% schlop. Try it – the fat’s not really that bad for you, I swear!
This is my hands-down favorite cookbook purchase of the year (last year,that is). I’ve so far made the brownies, the chocolate chip pumpkin bread, the espresso banana muffins, and the peanut butter crispy bars. Everything has gotten rave reviews. After reading your post, I’m moving the granola to the top of the list to make next.
Long time reader – first time poster. Love your site, and congrats on 5 years!
I hate to break it to you, but this granola is by no means healthy. It sounds like a delicious carb-fest, no doubt, but not one that is diet friendly. Save it for your free day!
I made the brownies from Baked last night. They totally live up to the hype. Glad to hear the granola is tasty too, I may have to try that next.
I made the Baked brownies last night and they completely live up to the hype. They’re amazing. I may have to try the granola next, it looks awesome.
The granola looks great. I am not a fan of dried fruit but I could definitely go for the rest of it.
This looks great! I haven’t tried this recipe yet but now I want to because it appears to have something that all zillion granola recipes I’ve tried before lack any good effort at: clumping. Is it true or are my hopeful eyes deceiving me?
This looks great! I haven’t tried this recipe yet but now I want to because it appears to have something that all zillion granola recipes I’ve tried before lack any good effort at: clumping. Is it true or are my hopeful eyes deceiving me?
I just read about Baked in a magazine and can’t wait for my next visit to New York to try it out!
Holy crap that’s a lot of sugar. How did this stuff get a ‘healthy’ moniker.
I always make my own granola, mostly because I hate paying crazy amounts for the stuff. I usually cut out the oil and sweeten with a mix of juice and honey, which keeps everything crispy. Fave mix-ins: dried cherries, dates, cristallized ginger, walnuts and cashews (or almonds, if cashews are too pricey).
I discovered my love for granola last summer. I haven’t made any myself yet, but this looks like the recipe to try it out.
I just want to defend you and your granola, since some people feel the need to scold you for thinking it’s a healthy recipe. I’d say, considering that your recent cooking adventures have included sugary pizza (which sounds so yum!) and creamy-bacony-chicken, you have every right to feel like this is a healthy choice. Plus, if your blog devolves into a paean to the benefits of wheat grass and spirulina, I don’t think any of us will want to read anymore. Bake on, AG!
I like that you mixed your granola with bananas. Looks yummy!
Very nice! The cherries do sound divine mixed in. Good photos too.
I’ve been searching for a good granola recipes recently and found (and tried) this Raw Granola Recipe.
It uses almonds and pumpkin seeds and NO sugar! Still sweet though and high protein/heart healthy.
Yum.
We made this granola last night and found it inedible due to the amount of salt. We had to throw it out! It tastes like the opposite of health. Did anyone else have this problem?
Just for fun and because I am a future nutritionist I did an analysis on this recipe. I did the analysis breaking the recipe into 12 servings: Cal 239, fat: 9.5g sat. fat: 1.0, poly. fat: 3.1, mono. fat: 5 g; Carbs: 35g, fiber: 4 g, Protein: 6 g. Essential Nutrients: VB6: 6%, Vit E: 13%, Copper 33%, Calcium 4%, Iron 11%, Magnesium 21%, manganese 96%, Phosphorus 24%, potasssium 5%, sodium 13%, and Zinc 16%.
Overall this is a pretty decent granola. Substituting walnuts over hazelnuts can help up the Omega 3s, and perhaps sweetening with agave instead of honey would provide a more natural sweetener with some extra nutritional benefits. Finally, adding pumpkin seeds and flax seeds will definetely give the recipe a fantastic nutritional bang! Just some thoughts. Oh yeah, fitday.com is an excellent tool if you want to do the same thing with other recipes!
Megan,
You used 1 teaspoon of salt for 2 cups oats, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup honey and almost a full cup of nuts and found it too salty? Are you sure you were using a proper teaspoon measure and not an actual spoon you stir your tea with? I definitely err on the side of over-salting my food, but here I thought it was a perfect amount of salt. Surprised to hear you had to throw the whole thing away.
Adam
This isn’t a health food blog, so I apologize for carrying on this discussion, but there’s good reason to be skeptical of agave. It is heavily processed–you do not just press the plant as you might an olive–and its fructose content is very high as well. And while it’s true that substituting walnuts for hazelnuts will raise the omega-3 content, they will also dramatically raise the omega-6 content (and the 3:6 ratio is as important to track as are absolute quantities of PUFAs).
This isn’t a health food blog, so I apologize for carrying on this discussion, but there’s good reason to be skeptical of agave. It is heavily processed–you do not just press the plant as you might an olive–and its fructose content is very high as well. And while it’s true that substituting walnuts for hazelnuts will raise the omega-3 content, they will also dramatically raise the omega-6 content (and the 3:6 ratio is as important to track as are absolute quantities of PUFAs).
That said, this recipe certainly sounds delicious, and is probably much better for you than a donut or bowl of Frosted Flakes.
This granola sounds great! Have you tried coconut oil? Butter (or ghee) are nice too – and better than vegetable oil if you worry about quality fats. I make mine with half honey, half grade-b maple syrup (delicious flavor, plus it avoids refined sugar) – but otherwise the recipe is similar. The honey seems to be the key to clumping, so all maple won’t work unfortunately.
Walnuts are by far the best nut source of omega-3s, but, like all nuts, they are high in omega-6s (as D mentions). The healthfulness or non-healthfulness of granola can be debated, but since it’s primarily whole grains, fruits, and nuts, it can fit into a healthy diet for sure! This sounds delicious.
Being a lover of all things yogurt and granola, I have always wanted to craft my own oatmeal crunchy goodness. Just having relocated to Pittsburgh with zero plans on a Saturday night, it seemed as good a time as any to try. However, my recent-college-grad pantry is always certain to lack a few key ingredients…so a few rather ambitious substitutions later (ie olive oil, aunt jemima…) I was ready to put my halved batch in the oven. I tried to bake for less time, and did not add any nuts due to not having them. Unfortunately, still ended up burning it! And its a bit salty (suprising because I used sea salt, post grinding)…but cant give a final verdict because I’m letting it cool before adding some chopped dates (purchased on a whim today at the local Shop n’ Save). Anyways, I’m sure it will be just fine in my Yoplait Light Thick n Creamy French Vanilla (pure heaven, when not in a Fage mood), and will be superb if I ever make it properly!
Thank you for the recipe. I made it today and found it too salty. Don’t think anyone’s going to eat it. I am going to try Rose Bakery granola next and see how we like it.
Don’t waste it! Just mix it half and half with quick rolled oats before eating. (And half the salt next time – I always halve the salt the first I try any recipe, it is much easier to add salt later.) I’ve tried commercial granolas, and they are often too sweet – so I dilute with raw quick oats.
I made this over the weekend and have not been able to put it down!
YUM! Thanks so much for posting :)
Hello! Your granola recipe sounds absolutely wonderful! I just learned how to make my own homemade granola (you can see my simple recipe on my blog) and you have given me some great ideas on how to make mine even tastier. I love the idea of adding in dried fruit, especially the dried cherries because I love my granola sweet! I would suggest adding in dried mangos as well. I had this in granola at a restaurant once and I fell in love! I’m also a huge fan of hazelnuts and I never thought of adding them to granola. I am definitely going to try this when I made my next batch. Thanks for adding the link to Molly’s chocolate granola-it sounds fabulous. You noted that the granola lasts for one week. Do you find that the taste is much different after a week? Just curious! Thanks again!
Yummy! We have also evolved a wonderful granola recipe–fruit juice serves as part of the sweetener and moisture, so there’s a little less sugar and oil than some recipes, and it is kid-approved.
http://thetanglednest.com/2009/03/tangled-nest-granola-just-say-no-to-cereal-boxes/
I found it a bit salty, too — not inedible, but I’ll probably cut back to a 1/2 tsp next time. (Though I’m not sure this will replace Molly’s as my go-to granola recipe.) Otherwise, delicious! I substituted pumpkin seeds and pecans for the raisins.
I just tried making the granola and I have to agree that it’s way too salty. I measured a teaspoon, and even used kosher salt, which should have been less salty than a teaspoon of table salt. It’s kind of edible if you eat it mixed in with yogurt, but by itself, not really. And I am a big fan of salty food and don’t underseason things. Other than that, it’s good, but it’s a waste to have to dump it in the trash.
I wish I had read the comments on this recipe before making it. I, like many of the others below me, found this granola too salty to eat :( extremely disappointed after that that time to make and wasting the ingredients. I would say to make this recipe with 1/2 tsp of salt AT MOST.
◘ This is so easy…Definitely making it today ◘
Yum!!! So I just made some based on this recipe but totally changed most of the ingredients. I bought a bag of granola oats that were already flavored to eat and added the amounts above for the honey, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar and just mixed that all together and the thru in a handful if those dried plum bits called crazins I think and it’s cooking now. Smells incredible!!
Oh and I also added bran and flax seed instead of all the nuts!
My first time making granola (why did it take me so long???!!) and this was such a perfect starting point. Added a few more spices (ground cardamom, ground ginger, a bit of all spice) along with pecans and unsweetened coconut flakes. SO DELICIOUS!!! I’m going to have some on hand all the time. Addictive!
I love this granola and I usually just use whatever I have, like walnuts and pecans and dried cranberries and coconut. I don’t like raisins. This has always been super tasty. I can’t eat yogurt without it. I refuse to ever buy granola again because this is so easy.