The Quest for Healthy Granola
Happy Monday!
Of course, what I really mean is, great to see you again. As lovely as the weekends are, I’m always happy to come back to this little corner of the world and say hello to you again. Hello! Are you in a crap mood? Are you still glowing from the weekend? Whatever your state, it’s good to see you.
Today I am having some thoughts about granola. Is there ever really a healthy granola? How can oats and nuts add up to 7 million calories? And then there is the matter of burning. I am thinking of taking up a second career as a professional granola burner. I can bake springy custards and roll out homemade puff pastry, but I can’t seem to make granola without having to throw away lots of browned bits. Oh well. As my mom says, “God isn’t finished with me yet.”
With these questions in mind, it was with great enthusiasm that I came across a particular recipe for granola that didn’t seem to be an oil-sugar sponge disguised as a health food with so much reputation it’s become its own slang. There was a relatively small amount of oil, the intriguing addition of egg whites, and the option of using a sweetener like agave nectar. This seemed like a very good granola to me, and the jar of only-slightly-burned stuff that I passed on to a friend last week got good reviews.
But I can’t help but think that the granola I really like is the one my mom makes. It’s full of shredded coconut and slivered almonds, and the recipe is written on a sheet of notebook paper tucked inside a yellow binder. There is a coffee can on the top shelf of her fridge filled with it. So on Mother’s Day Eve, I sprinkled a bit over a little bowl of strawberry yogurt. It felt good to be home.
When it comes to my own homemade granola, though, I’ll probably stick with this version. (Or this one, which I have yet to make myself but a friend brought to book club and was heavenly.) While there are some family recipes we carry on unchanged, there are others we have to discover and write for ourselves in order to suit the people we’re becoming, or want to become. There’s a place, though, for the recipes that transport us to another time and another age. I’ll keep my hunger for mom’s granola confined to trips home and those care packages I happily lug back to the city.
Healthy Granola
from Whole Living
6 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/4 cups nuts, such as almonds, pistachios, walnuts, etc., coarsely chopped
1/4 cup seeds, such as sunflower, pepitas, etc.
1/3 cup flaxseed meal, wheat germ, or a mixture of the two
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large egg whites
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup sweetener, such as honey, agave syrup, or molasses
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup dried fruit, such as sour cherries, cranberries, currants, raisins, apricots, figs, or pineapple, coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the oats, nuts, seeds, flax and/or wheat germ, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and the salt until frothy. Whisk in the sweetener and the olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and stir until the oats are evenly coated.
Transfer mixture to two rimmed baking sheets and spread flat. Bake for 20 minutes, then gently flip with a spatula, moving granola from the outer edges to the center of the sheet. Continue to cook until golden, about 10 minutes more. (If the granola starts to brown too much at the edges, gently stir those parts into the middle.) Cool completely on pan, then transfer to a bowl and gently stir in the dried fruit.
Deelish Dish: I’m obsessed with the Whole Foods Fruit & Nut Granola but as it’s uber sweet, I’m sure it’s highly caloric too. I eat it with plain yogurt and fresh strawberries. But I have been looking for a simple, healthy, easy recipe to whip up and jar for the cabinet.1 year ago
heather: isn’t it funny, the little things that keep us humble in the kitchen? i have no problem signing up to make thanksgiving dinner…but i kind of suck at pancakes. (!!!)
we are not a granola-y house…but my friend virginia adores her recipe (i apologize for the cut-n-paste): http://greenisthenewblack.squarespace.com/v-and-ns-2010-granola/ she swears it’s apple-tastic, and v. satisfying, even in weensy, granola-appropriate amounts.1 year ago
Samantha Angela @ Bikini Birthday: Like you, I always find new ways to burn granola. Maybe I’ll try to get it right with this version.1 year ago
DD, That right there is a wonderful breakfast, and my preferred method for downing granola, too.
Heather, Yeah I think that way of looking at it — we all have our areas of idiot savant-ness in the kitchen! Thanks for the recipe link.
Samantha, Here’s hoping!1 year ago
Erin: I’m going to try this – I can’t wait to see what the egg whites do to it. Make it all stick together better? Like a granola bar? In all my granola recipe tweaking, I have found that just 1/4 cup of honey* is sweet enough for me (using 3 cups of oats). I experiment all the time with granola recipes and enjoy about 1/4 cup of it mixed with my cereal to keep things interesting and crunchy. Also, as a yogurt topping.
BTW, I use coconut oil, which sounds like a really caloric way to go, but it works. A woman who has a sports nutrition /raw foods company told me about it (it is all she uses in her products). Something about a medium-chain fatty acids being better for you.
*If it is a local honey, I’ve heard it should help with allergies. I haven’t seen a decrease in symptoms though.1 year ago
Erin, I think the egg whites helped it clump together in extra crunch clusters. A little bit of granola in cereal does add a nice boost to breakfast.1 year ago
Wendy: I have been making and enjoying granola for a coupla of years now and only just realized that I can make it any way I want too. So…no oil at all. Yes it is a little softer than your oil based ones, but better for me. I use a combination of maple syrup and agave for sweetener and vanilla for flavoring. I make a huge batch so I don’t have to do it so often, as 3 of us eat it. As long as the oats and nuts get toasted I am ok.
-Erin, the local honey thing takes time. One way to get benifits faster is to drink hot honey water daily. 2T in a coffee mug of hot water is usually enough. Also helps with sore, scratchy throats. Honey is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. Put some on a cut with a bandage!1 year ago
JStars: I’ve been making the NYT olive oil granola for a while, and it is life-changingly good. It’s totally spoiled me for other granola. I even forgot the brown sugar once and it was still delicious, and I bet you could play around with some of the other high-calorie stuff and reduce it with little impact. I will say that it’s worth getting better-grade maple syrup, since it really heightens the flavors.1 year ago
JoAnna: Oh goodness, no wonder you have burning trouble. Turn down the heat to 250 and then bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. It gets golden and crispy but not burnt. And not so hot that you can’t eat it fresh from the oven with a little bit of homemade vanilla icecream…1 year ago
Kristina: I am familiar with this quest, indeed. There’s a recipe I like very much in Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe, that calls for skillet-cooking instead of baking. The benefits are: no added oil, shortened cooking time, and perhaps decreased likelihood that it will burn, since you’re standing there stirring it for the duration. The only drawback I see is the reduced yield– only 3 1/2 cups. We keep a jar in our fridge, in all seasons.
1 year ago
Karen: This sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing — I haven’t made my own granola yet, but I keep collecting recipes…one day!1 year ago
Julie: I am also a chronic granola burner! It’s one of those things that seem to go from raw and soft to black and icky really fast.
Anyways, this is not exactly granola, but I’m newly obsessed with this recipe: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/03/british_flapjacks.Super easy, and those little triangles of oat deliciousness are addicting!1 year ago
Martha: Thanks for the shout-out my friend; what a thrill!1 year ago
evontameca: It seems that granola is gaining more and more popularity at rapid speed. I like that it gives more body to yogurt. Not sure that I have the gumption to prepare it myself yet, but at least the recipe is here as a reference. XOXO.1 year ago
molly: Yes, THE BURNING PROBLEM! Mine always burns, also, though I swear I made it for years without this fate. I’ve been dialing down my oven temp with every batch, and low and slow has been helping (I’m down to 300, thinking about 275, maybe even 250!)1 year ago
Lesley: Have you tried making granola with fruit puree? You use a lot less oil and the result is pretty fantastic. I read about it on David Lebovitz’s site awhile back (he, in turn, took it from Orangette), and I made my own version with black sapote. It’s this chocolate-brownie-looking tropical fruit that’s native to Mexico, with a mildly sweet flavor. (It was awesome! Link here: http://lesleytellez.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/granola-with-black-sapote-puree/) The cool thing is that you can use whatever fruit you want, as long as it purees nicely. Once tried it with guavas and that didn’t work out so well… the seeds made it a little too crunchy.
Must try the NYT version — it looks decadent!1 year ago
Erin: Thanks, Wendy, for the honey tea tip!1 year ago
Mardi: On *not* burning granola
- 325 degrees F is hot enough – no need to rush it
- No more than 1/2 cup of sweetener for 4 cups of oats
- The deep, dark secret to deep, dark granola is stirring the baking granola often and well. Since I move on to other things, I developed these tricks so I don’t forget to stir.
When I put the granola in the oven I set the timer for 7 minutes. When the timer goes off I take the pan out of the oven and stir it, taking care to move all the granola away from the edges of the baking sheet where it’s hottest. When I return the pan to the oven I re-set the time for 7 minutes. I stir 3 times and bake it for 7 minutes 4 times.
I set a second timer for 30 minutes so I don’t lose count of the times it’s gone in and out and back in. This second timer usually goes off a couple of minutes before the last 7-minute timer. I remove the granola from the oven when the last 7-minute time goes off.1 year ago
Tracey March: Mark Bittman’s granola recipe in Food Matters – super easy and delicious (I use the maple syrup option to sweeten). And the timer is indispensible for the burning issue — I set it at 10 minute intervals for the first half hour, then 5, until the granola is done. One batch lasts a week in my 3 person household, and amazingly, my husband is the one who eats the most of it.1 year ago
amber: i just tried making granola and i burned it!!! i can bake/cook anything and i have NEVER burned anything! i’m so embarrassed. i’m glad i read everyones comments. i’m gonna retry without the oil and stir more often. i hope i don’t fail again.36 weeks ago