Granola: an Illustrated Recipe

Or, It’s Not Just For Hippies Anymore! 

For the monthly Foodie Joust over at Leftover Queen’s, I came up with two very different ideas.  I haven’t decided which one to submit yet, so maybe my most excellent readers will help me decide?  (This means you!)  Last month’s winner chose ginger, citrus, and whole grains for this month’s challenge.  And here we go with my first shot (well, to tell the truth, I made this second, but the recipe was much easier to commit to the page):

Recipe and photos after the jump.

Orange-Ginger Granola

 

This makes a great breakfast with milk or yogurt and fresh fruit – peaches are particularly good with the ginger – but it’s also an awesome snack eaten straight out of your hand. Slivered almonds would be good in here, too: just throw in 100 g or so with the oats and coconut.

 

500 g/ 1 lb. rolled oats or mixed grains (I used oat, wheat, barley, rye, and rice cereal)

100 g/ 3½ oz. shredded unsweetened coconut

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg (about ½ pod – if all you have is dried nutmeg, leave it out)

 

500 ml/ 16 oz. orange juice

100 ml/ 3½ oz. grapefruit juice

5 cm/ 2 in. piece of ginger, peeled and cut in half

 

150 g/ 5 oz. crystallized ginger, diced

50 g/ 1¾ oz. candied orange peel, diced

60 ml/ 4½ Tbsp. honey (I used orange blossom honey, but use what you have on hand)

 

1. Preheat oven to 175 C/ 350 F.
2. Combine the orange juice, grapefruit juice, and ginger in a saucepan.  Bring to a vigorous simmer and reduce by half to 300 ml/ 10 oz.  Let cool a bit and remove the ginger.
3. While the juice reduction is cooling, combine the oats, coconut, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Drizzle the reduction over the oat mixture and toss gently to evenly moisten the oats.
4. Spread the granola mixture on a sheet pan and place in the oven.  Bake, stirring every 10 minutes or so until the oats are uniformly toasted to a nice terra cotta shade.  This should take 45 minutes to an hour, depending on your oven. 
5. During the last 5-10 minutes of toasting, heat up the honey in the microwave.  20-30 seconds will suffice; you just want it to be fluid and easily pourable.
6. Carefully transfer the hot granola to a large bowl (it can be the same one you mixed it in before – no need to wash it, even) and toss with the crystallized ginger and candied orange peel.  Drizzle the warm honey over the granola and toss gently to coat everything with a thin, glistening layer of honey.
7. Spread the granola back out on the sheet pan to cool.  Once cooled, it will keep in an airtight container up to 6 weeks.

 

Makes about 750 g/ 1½ lb.  (You’ll lose some to the oven, and, if you’re anything like me, to your gullet before all is said and done.)

 

Mix the dry ingredients. (Step 3)

Ready for the oven. (Step 4)

Nicely toasted. (Later in step 4)

Stirring in the honey and fruits. (Step 6)

Originally published on Croque-Camille.

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