The quest continues...

for granola that is. :D

I tried a recipe last week from Nigella Lawson. Very simple prep. Ingredients that were fairly easy to find, that is if my local grocery store were better. I did have to travel to the health food store for the sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, & Brown Rice Syrup. (which is actually quite tasty)

The end result? Tasty really. Nice crunch. I didn't get the big chunks like she did on the show. It was really more like granola. I don't know if I liked the peanuts in it tho. They gave almost a bitter taste, which I suspect was because of the skins. But I searched and couldn't find any un-salted or un-roasted peanuts without the skin. (oh the joys of shopping in a small town!) I used raw sunflower seeds (no salt, no roast) I got them from the local health food store)

Here is the recipe if you think you'd like to give it a go. Derek enjoyed this one. He quite frequently grabs a handful to snack on. The chocolate was a suprise, a welcome one at that. I used Ghiradelli powder.

Chocolate & Peanut Granola

By Nigella Lawson

1/4 cup best quality cocoa

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup white sesame seeds

3/4 cup apple compote or applesauce

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/3 cup brown rice syrup or rice malt syrup

1/4 cup clover honey or other runny honey

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 cups raw peanuts

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons canola oil or sunflower oil

Preheat oven to 310 degrees F.
Mix everything together very well in a large mixing bowl. Spread the mixture evenly in 2 baking tins and bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour, turning over half-way through baking. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Just don't go the entire hour for baking. It starts to burn after about 45 minutes.

Grease you pan and remove granola as soon as you possibly can from the pan because it will STICK and it will be a pain to get off the pan.

She said in the show that if you can't find brown rice syrup you could substitute dark caro or cane syrup. I liked the flavor of the Brown Rice syrup tho.

I did get alot of good ideas from this recipe. I figured out with the last recipe that for the granola to get crunchy it needs oven time. This gave me an idea of temp and for how long. I liked her ideas of binding agents (apple sauce, syrup etc.) I never would have thought to use the BR Syrup and what a wonderful flavor!

So I have plans this weekend to play around and see what I can come up with on my own.

Happy Cooking everyone!