Thursday, May 24, 2007

Granola - My Way

Nigella's Raspberry Swirl
made with My Granola

I was thinking about Nigella's Granola. I have what I think is a less sweet and even more delicious alternative. It's made in the microwave, which is good and bad. It's good because it's easy and quick. It's bad, because, as with all things microwaved, increasing the recipe is tricky. And once you try this, you'll want to make GOBS of it. What I do in my prime granola making season - Christmastime - is to get two batches ready at once in two different glass 9" by 13" dishes, so that when one comes out, the second can go in immediately.




Sue's Best Granola

2 cups rolled oats, not instant
2/3 cup chopped nuts - walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup raisins, dried cranberries or dried cherries

In a large glass bowl or dish, mix oats, nuts, wheat germ and brown sugar together. Stir in honey. (Warm it for 10 seconds in the microwave, WITHOUT LID, to make it easier to pour.)

Cook on high for 3 minutes. Stir well. Cook on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer. Cool slightly. Add raisins and/or dried cranberries or cherries.

Store in jar or zip lock bags.

Notes: My microwave is fairly old, so your microwave may be a lot more powerful. Watch cooking times carefully, so granola doesn't scorch.
If I'm making 2 batches, one right after the other, I add all walnuts to one batch and all almonds, for example, to the second. Then when I mix them together, my granola has a variety of nuts. I do the same with raisins and dried cranberries and/or cherries.

The almonds can be in any form whatsoever - slivered, sliced, whole, skinned or unskinned. You can save yourself any chopping by using slivered or sliced almonds.

As with so many things, the better the honey you use, the better the granola.

1 comment:

Sue said...

PS. Nigella says to puree the frozen raspberries in the blender. That's almost impossible. I just used a food processor and I still added a bit of orange juice to make it easier. You could partially thaw the fruit to do it the blender.