HOMEMADE GRANOLA

Super Deluxe Oil-free Granola.  Making a huge batch of this toothsome, low-sugar and oilless granola is a great activity for a dark wet day when the weather is making you feel stir crazy.  The spirit of this granola comes from a Molly Katzen recipe in one of her two original Moosewood cookbooks—can’t remember if it was in the beige or the blue one.  But I always thought it was the best I’d ever tasted in spite of its unglamorous looks.

This recipe tastes even better, due to the extraordinary dried fruits and nuts available now.  Here in France,I order big 1-kg bags of the best the world has to offer, such as hazelnuts from the Italian Piedmont and Avola almonds from Sicily.  I may not have any electronic gadgets but I do indulge in the best dried fruits for making this granola, baking, and just plain snacking!

Makes approximately 6 quarts of irresistible granola.  It would keep for weeks if it ever lasted that long!  Please use organic ingredients whenever possible.

You will need:

1 lb. rolled oats, not quick

1 lb. other rolled whole grain (I use épautre (lesser spelt) flakes, an indigenous wheat-like grain locally produced here.)

1/2 c. raw turbinado sugar

1 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt flakes

2-3 c. whole almonds

2-3 c. whole very fresh hazelnuts

1 1/2 c.whole raw cashews

1 c. ground or flaked dried coconut

1 c. raw sunflower seeds

1/2 c. unhulled sesame seeds

3 c. dried cherries, red or black, pitted and unsweetened

2 c. dried, unsweetened cranberries

1 c. dark raisins

Abut 20 whole dried apricots, unsulfured, cut into pieces.

In a very large bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients from oats through sesame seeds.  A big chef’s spoon with the bowl of the spoon set at an angle is the tool of choice here.

Line one or two sheet cake pans (depending on their size) with parchment paper.  Fill the pan(s) with the mixture, and toast in the oven at 325F for 40~50 minutes.  Stir twice during this time.

(To be continued shortly; my kitty Nora  needs some attention!)

Ok, I’m back.  

Test an almond.  It should taste just lightly toasted. If it does, remove the granola from the oven.  Place each kind of fruit in a separate bowl.  Evaluate them for moistness.  If  the fruit is very moist and soft to the touch, sprinkle it with just 2-4 tablespoons water and combine thoroughly.  If your raisins have been sitting in the cupboard too long and have turned into hard little pebbles, add water just to cover. Use your better judgment to decide how much water each fruit needs to withstand 20-30 minutes in the oven at 300 degrees F without becoming crunchy or burned.  Let them soak while the fruitless granola roasts in the oven.  

Then drain the fruits of absolutely all their water, but without drying them on a towel.  (Reserve the combined soaking liquid if you wish and reduce it to make a delicious syrup to use on yogurt or in salad dressings.). Mix the fruits into the oat mixture, taking care to do so equably if you have more than one tray.  Return the trays to a 300-degree oven for 20-30 minutes.  The nuts should be pleasantly toasted, the fruits chewy.  Better to err on the side of less oven time than too much.  Remove the trays and allow the granola to cool completely before storing in airtight containers or heavyweight ziploc bags.  Put them away out of plain sight to discourage constant snacking!