Sunday Morning Granola

One morning, after taking advantage of the morning light to photograph "the twins" - the newly-filtered cherry liqueur and the orange peel liqueur, I realized it was time to start Sunday breakfast. I abandoned my plan to continue reading my copy of Ottolenghi's brilliant cookbook, and wandered into the kitchen.

The twins posing on Ottolenghi's cookbook.

We hadn't partied or entertained the night before, so a full on breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, bacon seemed excessive. Oatmeal seemed like the stuff for work mornings and camping weekends. It had to be granola.

I'll be honest, I'm not too crazy about sprouting mung beans or any of the other hippy things I was surrounded with when growing up on the west coast of Canada. For the longest time, I lumped granola in with the rest of the foods I associated the word "hippy" with. To my uninitiated palate, these foods seemed flavourless, perhaps even joyless.

However, granola has quickly become mainstream in the last decade, with wee but fashionable boxes of the stuff demanding high prices. I will admit that my palate and appreciation for granola evolved in step with the mainstream trend. Many boxes of commercially available granola usually have some form of wheat or gluten in it. Between the allergies, being too lazy to walk to the store, and too cheap to dole out the dollars for a tiny bit of oats mixed with dried fruit, I decided to make my own.

The results? Oh hello, tasty, flavourful granola. Quick and easy to make, it's lovely (I'm told) with some milk. 

I used this lovely honey!

Sunday Morning Granola


2 cups regular oats
1/2 cup flake or dessicated coconut
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (didn't have any, used up some trail mix)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup honey or maple/agave syrup
1/3 cup grapeseed oil (Or use something like canola. If you try olive oil, let me know!)

1. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well.

2. Add in the wet ingredients and mix well. Spread in an even layer that's no thicker than one inch on a well-greased cookie sheet (I used a giant tray, but you can use two smaller sheets).

Granola before I baked it.

3. Bake in 350 degree oven until golden. After about seven minutes in the oven, take the tray out out, and flip the ingredients around using a spatula. Another seven minutes, move it about again. Let it be until it looks golden.

This granola stores well in an air-tight container for up to two weeks. Some people keep it longer. Mine never lasts that long!

Granola is a free-form creative exercise. Try adding things like minced candied ginger, any sort of dried fruit, or different sorts of flaked grains or flaxseed meal. It's a great way to also use up those bits and ends of trail mix that no one seems to want to finish.

Do you have a favourite granola recipe or item to add to granola?

Crisp Coconut Cookies

I dream of convection ovens the way some people dream of Bugatti Veyrons or Mazarati cars. The perfection realized in the way a Veyron hugs the road at high speeds is similarly attained in the perfection of baked goods that come from a convection oven. How does this occur, you might ask. If you've ever lived somewhere like Winnipeg, you understand wind chill. The genius of the convection oven lies in its use of the same physical phenomenon. It seems fitting that I should love something that harnesses the powers of a force that made me suffer for the powers of good.

My regular oven!

You may have gathered by now that I do not have a convection oven. There's a good chance you probably don't have one either. Never fear, it is still possible to bake lovely cookies in the regular sort of oven too! The secret to lovely, crumbly cookies with even edges is butter. How you handle the butter is critical to luscious cookie success.

First, make sure your butter is fresh. Like bread, butter can go stale, especially if it's exposed in your refrigerator. Butter should be about 65 degrees before you cream it with sugar. That means it's cool to the touch (and will take an imprint of your finger), but easy to spread. If it gets any warmer, you start messing with its delicate emulsion and then it's game over. The whole point of keeping butter cool is so that it can maintain structure for you.

If your butter melts, don't try re-freezing the butter and starting again. You can use this destroyed butter for frying potatoes. Lastly, keep your dough cool. Don't work it too much with your warm hands (people with permanently cold hands like mine, rejoice, for you have found a calling in forming cookies). If it seems to be warming up, put it in the freezer to cool it down. 

Crisp Coconut Cookies

125 g butter (one stick)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
pinch salt
2 cups rice flour
1 cup dessicated coconut
extra sugar

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream the butter in a bowl for approximately three minutes. The object of this game is to beat air bubbles into the butter. The baking powder will only work to expand these existing bubbles. If you're using an electric mixer, don't go past medium speed because otherwise, your butter will heat up.

3. Add in the sugar and beat until just combined. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix.

4. Take two or three tablespoons of sugar and spread it around in a small saucer. Take a teaspoon of the dough and roll it into a ball between the palms of your hands.

5. Flatten the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Dip one side of the cookie into the sugar. Place cookie, sugar side up, on a greased baking tray. You can avoid the grease by using Silpat.

6. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes on the middle rack. Gently loosen the baked cookies on the tray while still warm.

This is my favourite cookies to nibble while it's still warm, accompanied with a cup of tea. Do you have a favourite cookie? Let me know what it is :)

 

(yield 40)