Great Granola: A How-To

I want to talk more about some of the exciting things I wrote about last post. Well, one of them. I mentioned my first shot at making granola and how it didn't come out quite as well as I'd hoped. Well, I gave it another go and WOW. The best granola-- no, food of any kind-- in the history of the world has now been made.

This is what I'm talking about. The oats are cinnamony, golden-brown, and crisp, the nuts are almost candied on the outside and have been roasted until they're rich and mellow. The majority of the complex sweetness comes from the dried fruits and carrots (yes, carrots!) that dot the mixture. No two bites are ever the same. When you first bite into a mouthful of the sweet yogurt and granola, you will first feel the solidity of the big, earthy nut pieces as they crunch in your jawbone, then you'll feel the gummy fruits pull at your teeth. You are left with the lingering taste of toasted oats, slightly salty against the creaminess of the yogurt. Feel good about eating something whole. Here's my recipe, inspired by "Queen of Babylon" tea:

Queen of Babylon Granola

2 C rolled oats

½ C mixed nuts (pecans, almonds, walnuts)

½ C mixed dried fruits & veg (apricots, apples, carrots, pears, raisins)

1 tbs butter

2 tbs honey

2 tsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp black tea leaves

Pinch of orange zest

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Chop nuts coarsely and heat over medium heat with brown sugar and cinnamon until the spices seem to be clinging to the nuts slightly. Be careful not to burn the sugar or the inevitable “nut dust” that came from chopping-- you don’t even want the nuts toasted yet. As soon as they are hot and a little sticky, toss the heated nuts in with the oats and pinch of salt.

In a small bowl, melt butter and honey together until the two are runny. Pour over the oat mixture and mix very well. Note that I don’t like my granola too sweet, so because there isn’t much “granola glue” involved, there won’t be many “clumps” in the final product. If you want clusters and/or sweeter granola, add another couple tablespoons of honey and be sure to squeeze the sticky granola in your fists to make it stick to itself more.

Once you’ve mixed the oat mixture and “granola glue” well, spread it out in a single layer on a dry cookie sheet and put into the oven. Let it bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown, flipping every 10 to 15 minutes.

During this time, mix your dried fruits and vegetables, tea leaves, and orange zest together.  When the granola is browned to your liking, take it out of the oven and spread it out to cool over a brown paper bag on the counter, adding the above mix to the oats and nuts. Allow to cool COMPLETELY before packing in an air-tight container. This will keep in the fridge for about a week.

One thing I really hate about food blogs is commenters who will ask question about the feasibility of replacing this, that, or the other thing in a recipe to suit their own taste or diet or restrictions and expect the blogger to essentially walk them through making their own alterations. I think I read a dozen or more recipes for granola online before ignoring all of them and doing it on my own, and I think that's probably the best way to go about making something new. There is almost never only one right way to do anything. Most recipes can be tweaked for individual preference, even dramatically! In this case, since granola's basically a more virtuous trail mix, you really have the freedom to blend it to your own tastes.

Chefs use what are called "recipe grids" to look at many different recipes that end up with the same dish. You can see an example on this page, which breaks down the proportions of all the ingredients in sixteen different recipes for chocolate pudding. When you look at the disparate recipes all together you can begin to understand what basic proportions of simple ingredients really make the dish tick. In my more casual study of online granola recipes available, I came to the conclusion that there are three main components to granola when you get right down to it: the rolled oats, the "other stuff", and the "glue" that will tie everything together. As far as I can tell, the basic ratio for most granola recipes is approximately (and conveniently!) 3:2:1.

• The oats need to be rolled oats. I used Quaker 1-Minute Oats because that's all Walgreens had when I went. They worked just fine. Apparently 1-Minute Oats are different from instant or "quick" oatmeal (though one minute seems pretty quick to me), though the ingredients read "100% rolled oats" just the same as on my old quick oats container. The flakes may be over all a little bigger, though that might be because I was comparing the top of a cylinder of 1-Minute the bottom of the container of quick oats. I did notice that some of the instant oatmeal at the store had added salt, sugar, and flavorings on the ingredients. Basically as long as you're just using plain rolled oats though, you're going to be fine. Just keep an eye on them when they're baking.
  

• The mix-ins are the "meat" of the granola. Usually there is about half as much non-oat stuff as oats in total when you mix the final product. Not only do your mix-ins add flavor to the fairly neutral oats, but they impart a lot of interesting textures that will liven up any (usually mushy) thing you add it to.
  
• Think dried fruit, nuts, coconut, nut butter, little chocolate chips, seeds, other grains (rye flakes, bran flakes, etc.). 
• Spices are included in this list too-- think vanilla, cinnamon, anise, orange zest, and so on.

• Finally, the "glue". This consists of a fat and a liquid sweetener that will incorporate the entire dry mixture and give it crunch after baking. There should be about 1 part fat to 2 or 3 parts sweetener, depending on how sweet you want the final product to be. In addition, more glue will allow the granola to form clusters.
  
•  You could use canola oil, peanut oil, olive oil, butter, ghee, or even bacon fat depending on what flavor you were going for. 
• Your sweetener could be anything from honey to molasses to maple syrup or any fruit-based syrup! The possibilities are endless.

With that in mind, it's easy to think of flavors and textures you like and make your own granola!