Granola: The Crunchiest Crunch

I love crunchy foods. Probably almost all that exist, except bones. And maybe shells.

In my case, it's inherited from both sides of the family, and amplified in my sister and I. Mom loves crunchy sweets, fruits, and veggies. Anything crisp and juicy, and if not juicy, something that can be swallowed with a hot cup of tea. I love all those things. Dad loves anything crunchy, salty, and fatty, preferably with beer or coffee (chips and bacon, respectively). In fact, with beer, his ability to eat this type of food goes through the roof. My affinity for these foods trumps my parents, probably due to gene amplification. I digress.

My friends recently shared this NPR interview about some of my most favorite crunchy snacks. Wanh-waaaaaanh. These treats being compared to "fillings sloshing around in my mouth" left me wanting to contribute something crunchy to the world. Something that satisfied all the sweet, salty, toasty moments but tasted better than fillings. Granola.


I grew up with the stuff. If it wasn't in my cereal bowl it was in the bowl of some old hippies in the general vicinity. I remember how exhausted my jaw would get from chewing granola, not able to believe such a small bowl would be so much work. Oh, but the toast oats and nuts, the sweet and salty, was every kids dream, as it near satisfied the junk food craving, or at least did for someone who never ate it. Little did I know my parents had me in crunch training, feeding what they new was an irresistible crunch-lover in the making.

In any case, granola is expensive to buy and ridiculously easy to make. It takes minutes to throw together, can be almost forgotten in the oven, and best of all, its totally forgiving. You can always substitute and change the recipe and nearly be out of necessary ingredients and it turns out great. This recipe is a double batch. There are a lot of optional pieces, not to make it confusing, but to show off that just about anything will do. The egg white addition is courtesy of my friend Kristen (also a crunch-lover) and the flax addition is my vegan slumping-substitute.




Granola

Base:
8 cups rolled organic oats

2/3 cup oil (flax, walnut, almond, sunflower, melted coconut, melted butter, anything will do)

2/3 to 1 cup sweetener (honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, pureed dates are my fave), to taste

1 1/2 tsp salt



Mix all the liquid together, then add the oats and salt. Incorporate by rubbing oats together with you fingers, between your hands, so as to coat all the oats with the wet ingredients. This is the base of the granola.

In mine, I add the following before I bake it (remember, totally optional):

1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 whipped egg whites, sloppily folded in (this makes great clusters)

And some other flavorings are yummy, too:

grated ginger
nutmeg
cardamon
cloves
almond extract
or any other thing you can think of.....

And then I lay it on two sheet pans with parchment and bake it at 325 for 30 minutes.

At this point you can take it out of the oven and lazily stir in the following if you want:

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup nuts or seeds (any kind you like, or all kinds if you like!)

1/4 c ground flax (sprinkle it over the top, then sprinkle with 2 tbls of water) for vegan healthy clumps

a light drizzle of sweetener (if you want sweet sugary clumps)

*Note: if you are going to add fruit, its nest to add it just a few minutes before the granola is done. Other wise it becomes a jaw breaker.


And then throw it back in the oven for 30-40 more minutes. Some parts might be a bit browner than others, but just take it out and let it sit on the counter top to cool on the tray.

Once cool to the touch, store it in a big airtight container. It'll store for way longer than you'll let it last.