Hey... Granola Is Baked!

A couple of weeks ago, I had a baking day with my friend, Lorna.  Although there was snow on the ground, our thoughts were of spring.  We played with berries and with rhubarb; the resulting cake and pie were lovely and bright.  We also dabbled in granola.

I know it isn't hard, but I've never made it.  Lorna, my uber awesome, uber healthy friend, has made it lots of times.  I brought the wheat germ and got jiggy with it.  (Yes, I'm sure that Will Smith never intended that phrase to be applied to wheat germ.  He's not here, though, is he?)

So, according to Lorna's recipe from the More With Less cookbook, here's what you do:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Combine in large mixing bowl:

2 c. whole wheat flour

6 c. rolled oats

1 c. coconut

1 c. wheat germ

Blend together separately:

1/2 c. water

1 c. oil

1 c. honey

2 t. vanilla

1 T salt

Add blended liquids to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Spread out on 2

greased cookie sheets and bake 1 hour, or until dry and golden.  Store in

covered containers.  Makes 2.5-3 quarts.

Before.

After.

The beauty of granola is that you can add any combination of things you like and things you have around.  I got pumpkin seeds because I don't think they appear in enough things; there were walnuts in my freezer.  Lorna had a plethora of dried cranberries; I had currants left over from my Irish soda bread adventure.  I also managed to use up some fairly crystallized basil honey and the dregs of a honey bear.  You only need to remember exactly what you did if you want to make it exactly the same the next time.  And who wants to do that?

In theory, I eat it 1/4 cup at a time with yogurt.  In reality, I eat it by the handful every time I walk through the kitchen.  Or have a bored moment at my desk.  (My share of the batch still managed to fill two containers.)

That said, there are worse things to eat by the handful.  You should give it a try; it's the whole-grain way to...

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