I have a new granola recipe for you, but before I go any further, a disclaimer:
If you are prone to addictive behaviors in the presence of crunchy sweet nutty seedy deliciousness, click away now.
I’M SERIOUS. The first time I made it, I ate it three meals in a row.
Now SCAT.
For the rest of you controlled, pious souls, yes, yes, I already have four other granola recipes — this is our standby, this is our fancy splurge, this one and this one have had their day — but this one, I promise, deserves a whole post all its own.
Because this granola is special on four different accounts:
- It doesn’t have oats
- It contains exotic ingredients for an authentic cooking high
- It’s gluten-free (not that I care, but some of you might)
- It POPS with per-sonality and pi-zzazz.
In fact, my husband calls it the “Fun Granola.”
The most tedious part of this recipe is sourcing the unusual ingredients, but once you’ve got everything, it’s a snap to assemble and it bakes up in less than half an hour.
The end result is a deliciously spiced, light and crunchy granola which is ridiculously fantastic eaten out of hand, like a hybrid cracker-granola bar-cookie.
If eating as a cereal for breakfast (or a bedtime snack — no judgement), I recommend adding copious amounts of dried fruit.
And it’s lovely as an ice cream topper and — oo, oo, oo, if you’re a plain yogurt person, add fistfuls and then drizzle the whole kit-n-kaboodle with honey.
HOLD UP, FOLKS. I just opened Samin’s book to check the ingredient list and realized that she calls it “cereal”, not granola. This is a cereal granola, not a granola granola, which prolly explains the lack of oats and why it’s so freaking FUN.
Henceforth, this deliciousness will now be known as…
Samin’s Fun CEREAL Granola
Adapted from Samin’s new (and utterly fabulous) cookbook Good Things.
Mahlab is the ground kernel from the inside of the seed of a particular species of cherry — Prunus Mahaleb. They say it tastes a bit like bitter almonds and cherries, and it has floral notes. I think it’s a pleasing flavor — and very mild. I won’t be at all surprised if it soon becomes all the rage.
I use melted homemade lard instead of oil. (Lard, I learned from daughter-in-law, does not impart a flavor in granola.)
A single batch makes about a gallon. Doubling is recommended. And I’m only using weights here — no cup measurements. Get a scale already.
80g puffed rice cereal (or wheat or Kamut)
80g puffed millet
85g pecans, rough-chopped
85g almonds, rough-chopped
50g pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
30g sesame seeds
1 tablespoon ground cardamon
6g salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mahlab
150g melted lard (or oil)
150g brown sugar
110g honey
Combine the puffed grains, nuts, and sesame seeds in a large mixing bowl.
Measure the sugar, honey, and oil into a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until melted. Increase the heat and bring to a boil — the oil may separate at the start, but whisk steadily and it will eventually become cohesive. It’s done when there are lots of bubbles on the top — about 5 minutes of cooking total. Add the salt and spices and stir well.
Pour the hot spiced syrup over the grains and quickly stir to coat evenly. Transfer the cereal to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Stir well, and then bake another 5-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on it! When the cereal is golden brown and caramely, remove it from the oven. Cool completely and then break the cereal into pieces — keep them large for snacking treats and crumble them smaller for cereal-and-milk consumption.
Store the cooled cereal granola in an airtight jar on the counter. (Or hidden away out of sight if you find yourself struggling.)
This same time, years previous: unlearning, my kids love motorcycles and this is how I feel about it, jammy crumble cookies, perimenopause: Laura, age 48, introducing how we homeschool: a series, my new kitchen: the refrigerator, the quotidian (11.12.18), unleashing the curls!, enough, for now, George Washington Carver sweet potato soup with peanut butter and ginger.
