Recipe Time
Apricot Granola
(the crunchy kind, and it's vegan too!)
- Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with foil (or use silpat mats.)
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup chopped pecans
2/3 cup hulled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup golden flax seed
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup almond oil
1/2 cup molasses
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups finely chopped dried apricots
- Mix oats, nuts, flax seed and salt in a large bowl. Separately, whisk together oils, molasses, salt, brown sugar and nutmeg. Stir wet and dry ingredients together until well mixed.
- Spread the granola evenly between the 2 pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, stirring granola and rotating the pans every 20 minutes. You don't want to "cook" the granola really, just dry it out. Take care not to over-bake. You can always turn the oven temperature down and bake for longer. It WILL burn if you aren't careful, and you will cry.
- Remove the pans and allow the granola to cool completely. In a large bowl, mix granola with the dried apricot pieces. Store in an airtight container, will last almost 2 weeks.
*The granola will not harden until it has cooled completely. If you want your granola to be more cluster-like, here is a neat trick I learned: after you remove the hot pans from the oven, press a double-layer of paper towel on top of the granola and smoosh it down flat all over. Leave the paper towel in place and DO NOT remove until the granola is completely cool. The trick worked perfectly for me, and I got great, chunky pieces.
I made up this recipe myself, but it is loosely based on this one I found on epicurious (which I have not tried) but I got the paper-towel tip from a commenter in the reviews. So, thank you so much
I realize this would be pretty pricey snack to make if you didn't have all of these items in your pantry already. I had lots of extra nuts leftover from Holiday baking that never happened, and the almond oil was leftover from, strangely enough, my bath bomb making a few months ago. I buy organic flax seed from the bulk bins at Farm Fresh and it's super cheap. I probably would have used honey instead of molasses, but I was out. I think it was all for the better though, the molasses added a nice touch and made it *officially* vegan! Dried apricots aren't that expensive, and I just really, really love apricots so much. Really. They're my favorite fruit, did you know that? It's true.
I'm sorry if I push the silpat mats on you all the time, but they really have changed the way I cook. I used to proudly boast that I didn't need fancy, expensive equipment to be a good cook, (and I still believe in that.) But, I have begrudgingly learned that the right tools can make a good cook even better, and investing in a few key pieces have really taken my game to a whole new level. I'm still working on my arsenal, these tools aren't cheap, and I was lucky enough to receive most of them as gifts, but here are a few of my new "how did I ever live without these" items:
Heavy duty baking sheets from Sonoma (don't warp, cook evenly)
Microplane (makes Parmesan into drifts of snow, great for zesting)
Silpat Mats (again!) I just love these things, nothing burns or sticks EVER, and you never need to grease or Pam again. Worth their weight in gold. Life changing.
Oh, and then there is EXCALIBUR. My big Christmas present this year, I was just so excited about getting this. I'm sure everyone is like, "What's the big deal, it's just a KitchenAid, everyone has one of those." But, I've wanted one forever, and those suckers are expensive, and I could just never justify spending so much money on something that I didn't really need. (My thrift-store hand mixer worked just fine...I guess?) And I got SUCH a great deal on mine, you will not believe it (but I'll tell you anyway!) I bought it from the Prime Outlets in Williamsburg. They sell refurbished mixers that are still good as new (if not better) and come with full warranties. You don't have as many colors to choose from (but I just wanted white anyway) and I did NOT pay the retail price of $400+. Mine was $193 with tax! Yay, I loooove a good deal. Sorry if I'm bragging a little, but man, that was so cool. The clerk took an extra 20% off the total at the register for no reason, and I HAD to open my big mouth,
Me - "What is this for, is there a special sale going on or something, I didn't see a sign?"
Clerk - "No, that's just the "triple-A" discount. You do have triple-A, right. *wink.*
Me, dumb as tea towel - "Well, no we don't actually, and really, I just, I don't understand......"
Mike, kicking me in the shin, grabbing the mixer and running for the door - "Thank you sir, have a good night!"
I guess I was just blown away that someone would do something so nice, for no reason, at a time of the year when anyone working in retail would be so burnt-out and over it. Thank you, kind salesperson. Thank you.
