Tag: oatmeal
Rowing for Coconut & Jam Oat Bars

Rowing for Coconut & Jam Oat Bars

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About this time of year, I wax nostalgic about one of my passions (not food this time), rowing.  Say what?  Yes, rowing.  I started rowing, gosh too many years ago to count, and it changed my life.  Instead of trudging toward a sedentary, middle-aged lifestyle, it became my sport and form of exercise.

Spending early morning hours on the water (trust me, I am not a morning person) watching the sunrise, the first rays of light hitting the ripples of water made by the boat, it’s magical.  Beyond that (there’s more?), I have made lifelong friends, found a community, and experienced the camaraderie created by competition, joy, and pain.  #Crewlife

Rock Star Regatta

Boston annually hosts the largest regatta (rowing competition) in the world, the Head of the Charles.  Every October, collegiate, high school, Masters (anyone out of school) converge for the regatta.  Imagine the Boston Marathon but with a bunch of really tall people, wearing spandex (lol) in boats on the Charles.  We row as hard as we can for 5km.  All the while navigating through boats, under bridges (5), and around turns.  Throngs of spectators line the bridges and banks of the Charles to watch and root their rowers on.  It’s exhilarating, I haven’t raced there in a while and I miss it.

Side Trip Fun

If you go that far to race for twenty minutes, you might as well take advantage of being there.  We began taking side trips after Head of the Charles. One year we went to Vermont to find pie, visit King Arthur Flour, and tour Ben and Jerry’s.  Another year found us in Martha’s Vineyard.  The crowds of summer long gone, we wandered the island taking in the cool, crisp, fall weather, foliage colors, and FOOD!  We stopped at 7aFoods for pastries and coffee which I highly recommend.  Finally, a stop at  Morning Glory Farm to roam their pumpkin patch and eat more pie, the Buttermilk Pie was a standout.

The 7AFoods Oat and Fruit Bars were dreamy-a buttery crust topped with blueberry preserves, dried fruits, oat, and a delicious crumble. I asked for the recipe which they graciously sent BUT I have yet to try as it makes two full sheets of bars!  So I searched for a simpler, smaller recipe that would satisfy my 7AFoods bar craving.  Luckily, I found a delightful, easy-to-make Raspberry Coconut Oat Bar cookie from One Girl Cookies that did the trick.

So, I made a batch of these delicious bars while watching this year’s Head of the Charles Regatta.  Sigh, maybe next year I’ll be rowing instead of baking.

Finally, Notes on the One Girl Cookies Raspberry Coconut Oat Bar

These bars are easy to make.  The base crust and crumble are from the same dough.  The dough starts with cold butter, eliminating the time to soften butter, and can be made in a mixer or by hand.  Yep, that easy.  Use a mixer, add the flour, sugars, salt, and butter (diced into little pieces) and mix until it forms a crumble, then add coconut and oatmeal.  Use a pastry blender to cut butter into flour and sugar mixture.  This is much like making pie dough.  Do not blend until it forms a single mass as that would result in a tough crust.  As it bakes, the bits of butter in the dough melt and create steam that makes a tender, flaky crust.

NACL Note

The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of salt.  It is intentionally salt-forward, a play on the salty and sweet vibe.  If you use a really sweet jam, I would leave the amount of salt.  If you are salt sensitive, try 3/4 teaspoon instead.  You do need some salt as a flavor booster.

Reserve 3/4 to 1 cup of the crumble mixture.  Press the remaining dough into a 9×13 baking pan that has been lined with parchment.  The recipe calls for baking the crust for 14 minutes, it took a couple of minutes more for the edges to brown for me.  Spread preserves over the cooled crust.  I have used blueberry, mixed berry, and apricot, it’s your choice. The base crust is pretty thin so a thin layer of jam is all that is needed.  I might sprinkle the jam layer with dried fruit and sliced almonds before adding the crumble next time.

Before adding the crumble, squeeze the crumble mixture so there are some bigger crumbs, it looks nicer.

With Blueberry Lichi Jam!

With apricot cherry preserves!

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JAMMY COCONUT OAT BARS

Jam & Coconut Oat Bars, a buttery shortbread base topped with preserves and a coconut oatmeal crumble. Adapted from One Girl Cookies.
Course bar cookies, cookies, desserts
Cuisine American
Keyword bar cookies, Jammy Coconut Oat Bars, One Girl Cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Resting Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

All About the Dough

  • 1-1/4 cups (150g) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
  • 12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
  • 1 teaspoon salt Very salt forward, decrease to 3/4 tsp. if desired

Add to Dough Crumble

  • 3/4 cup (85g) unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1-1/2 cups (148g) old-fashioned rolled oats

The Finish

  • 1/2 cup raspberry preserves or use your favorite preserves

Optional Adds

  • 1/4-1/3 cup diced dried fruit that compliments the preserves you use
  • 1/4-1/3 cup sliced almonds or chopped nuts of your choice

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Spread the coconut on a baking sheet. Toast 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Keep your eye on it as coconut will brown quickly
  • Grease a 9"x 13"x 2" baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
  • In an electric mixer on low speed, mix the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt until combined. Add the butter and continue mixing until the dough begins to come together. Stir in the coconut and oats.
  • Remove 3/4-1 cup of the crust dough. Set aside. If adding optional ingredients remove 3/4 cup of crumble.
  • Pour the remaining dough to pan. Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan, I use a flat bottom cup to press dough into pan. Bake 14-17 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. The crust should be golden brown around the edges. Allow the crust to cool for 10 minutes.
  • Spread the preserves evenly over the crust, leaving a scant 1/2-inch border. If you are adding nuts or dried fruit, sprinkle on preserves now then crumble the reserved dough over the top. Bake 7 minutes, or until the preserves are bubbly. Cool completely in pan.
  • Run a knife around the edges of the bars. Place a baking sheet on top of the pan and flip the pan over to release the bars. Peel the parchment paper off. Then flip again. Using a sharp knife, cut the bars into squares, which in a 9x13 won't be exactly squared, lol.
Anzac-ly The Delicious Biscuit (Cookie) I Was Looking For

Anzac-ly The Delicious Biscuit (Cookie) I Was Looking For

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Marching orders in hand, I gathered the ingredients to make Anzac Biscuits.   Think Oatmeal Cookie meets Oatcake or Granola Bar…you end up with a biscuit (cookie) that is buttery, sweet-salty, chewy-crispy (are these oxymorons?), and EXTREMELY delicious.

A Brief History On Anzac Biscuits

These tasty biscuits (cookies) can be traced back to World War One and the Australian-New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).  As the story goes, moms and wives sent these biscuits to their soldiers fighting, both as a morale booster and reprieve from the dreary military rations.  Made simply of flour, coconut, oatmeal, Golden Syrup, butter, they were easy to make and tasty.   The end product was a caramel-ly sturdy biscuit that traveled well and lasted a long time.  A welcomed treat from home.

Simplicity At Its Finest

Put this biscuit recipe in your incredibly easy with huge returns file.  Very easy and perfect for little hands helping in the kitchen.  Stir the dry ingredients together in a big bowl (kids love doing this), melt butter with the Golden Syrup on the stove (you do this), add the baking soda mixture to the butter (once again, your job) and add to dry ingredients (kids love to stir and make a mess).  Scoop, bake, and eat!  Easy-peasy.

Tweaks

The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s (Goddess of Baking) book, Dorie’s Cookies.

I used a one-eighth cup to portion the dough (could not find my scoop of this size 🤔) which produced cookies a little over 2 inches in diameter.  Use either a #24 or #30 ice cream scoop for bigger biscuits, I would. They’re that good.

Press the dough into a puck-like disc on the baking sheet.  Gives the biscuits a running start to a nice even shape.

If I had baked these cookies for 17-18 minutes, as directed, I’d have lumps of coal for all those naughty kids at Christmas.  The first batch baked for 14 minutes at 325 degrees, which produced deep golden brown cookies with dark edges.  The second batch baked at 320 degrees for 13 minutes.  The biscuits were deep brown, carrot cake color without the dark edges.  If you like a chewier, lighter-colored cookie, reduce the baking time, personally not recommended.  If you make larger cookies, adjust baking times accordingly.

Subbing honey or corn syrup for Lyle’s Golden Syrup can be done in a pinch.  But if you can, please try to use Lyle’s Golden Syrup.  It is made from sugar cane and has a nuanced caramel flavor you won’t get with honey or corn syrup.  Lots of larger grocery stores carry Lyle’s or you can order it on Big Bad Amazon.  Don’t confuse their Dessert Syrup for the Original Cane Syrup, that’s like Log Cabin to real Maple Syrup.

These biscuits are incredibly tasty and easy to make, put them on your “biscuit” bucket list.

P.S.

Not all these biscuits came out perfectly round as pictured, lol.  As soon as they came out of the oven, I placed a glass over the not-so-round ones and swirled it in a circular motion thereby jostling the cookies into perfect rounds.  Tricks of the trade, babee.

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5 from 2 votes

ANZAC Biscuits

Iconic Austrailian-New Zealand Biscuit (cookie) created during WW1, recipe adapted from Dorie's Cookies
Course biscuits, cookies
Cuisine Australian
Keyword Anzac Biscuits, Anzacs, Dorie Greenspan, Lyle's Golden Syrup
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 cup AP flour 136 grams
  • 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 80 grams
  • 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut 90 grams
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar or additional granulated sugar 50gms * Not in Dorie's recipe! Add if using unsweetened coconut, omit if you like,

Wet Ingredients

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Use 1/4 teaspoon if using salted butter, Dorie's recipe uses sea salt, I thought it was a touch salty.
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
  • 2 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup

Leavening Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon boiling water
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut, sugars, and salt and set aside.
  • In a small saucepan over low heat melt the butter with the Golden Syrup and remove from heat.
  • Combine the boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl to dissolve the baking soda.
  • Pour the water and baking soda into the butter mixture and stir to combine.
  • Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.
  • Use a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop to mold each cookie by gently packing dough into ice cream scoop and then turning out onto cookie sheet or form 1 1/2-inch balls of the dough with spoons)
  • Place cookies 1-2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 17-18 minutes* or until deep golden brown (the color of carrot cake). Makes 16-18 cookies.
    *Read my post regarding baking times!

Notes

These cookies should be a nice rich deep brown.  Meant to be a little dense and crispy as they historically needed to travel well.  For a chewier cookie, a little less baking time will do the trick, if that is what you like.  It won't have as much of that nice caramel flavor you get from browning but still tasty!
Finding Ranger Cookies

Finding Ranger Cookies

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We are a divided family. Hubby likes chewy oatmeal cookies and ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies.  Me? I love shortbread, crumbly, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookies with a hint of sweetness, and decidedly not chewy. Perhaps, cookie preference is a dominant gene trait?  ALL my kids love chewy cookies just like Wes.  I thought it was a kid thing (I consider the hubs a kid).  I assumed when they got older their palates would become more refined, sophisticated m.  Surely, they would come around.

Nope

Even now, when I make cookies that aren’t chewy the response is “They’re ok” or “I like chewy cookies better” or “Wonder if Dad can make some Good Cookies.” The only rational explanation?  Mendelian Genetics. Yep, a predisposition to chewy cookies. Ooh, did you just have an involuntary flashback to high school biology? I concede, in our house, chewy cookies reign supreme.

I Went to a Garden Party

For a summer fundraiser, I volunteered to make Mexican Wedding Cookies. My partner at the dessert table, Emily, brought an unassuming looking oatmeal cookie,   They disappeared in a flash which caught my attention.  I grabbed one and took a bite.  Yum!  This cookie was CHEWY, sweet, buttery, with a bit of crunch.  It definitely fell into the Wes and kids’ cookie camp.  I snuck a couple (ok, more than a couple) onto my cookie plate to take home.

As soon as I got home, Jordan grabbed one of the cookies and gobbled it down, then he grabbed another and exclaimed: “This might be the best cookie yet!”

Determined to make them asap, I Googled cookies, coconut, Rice Krispies, and oatmeal, the ingredients Emily had rattled off to me.  Instantly, a bunch of recipes popped up for Ranger Cookies.  Some had chocolate or butterscotch chips, and some had different cereals.  The blog, Let’s Dish, contained all the ingredients Emily mentioned so this became my starting point.  I hit the jackpot, these were just like hers.

Ranger Cookie Tips

Start by creaming butter and sugar until light and fluffy should take about 2-3 minutes tops. Then add eggs and vanilla, mix until well combined.  The recipe calls for gradually adding dry ingredients.  My detour, add it all at once and combine at low speed just until dry ingredients are fully incorporated.  Finally, stir cereal, coconut, and oatmeal in by hand.

Chilling the dough before baking prevents spreading.  Use an ice cream scoop to portion out the dough. Bake cookies on parchment paper.  With 3-4 minutes left to bake, rap the pan on the wire rack to get the cookies to fall, this helps create those cool crevices.

If your cookies aren’t perfectly round, after taking the cookies out of the oven, quickly invert a glass over each cookie and swirl it around.  This will shape cookies into perfect little circles.  Or skip it, they’ll be gone before anyone besides you notices.

Feel free to add chocolate chips or butterscotch chips for a twist. You can replace the Rice Krispies with partially crushed Corn Flakes, they’rrrrre great!  All you Tony the Tiger fans.

Ok, maybe chewy is not a genetic thing…maybe chewy cookies are just really, really delicious (don’t tell my kids I said that).  Either way, they belong on your gotta bake cookie list.

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RANGER COOKIES

Chewy oatmeal cookies loaded with coconut and crisp rice cereal. Simple and delicious, these cookies are a favorite with kids and grown-up kids as well!
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword coconut, cookies, oatmeal, ranger cookies, rice krispies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Creaming Mixture

  • 1 cup butter softened, this is an old recipe, before unsalted butter was so widely available. I would guess folks normally used salted butter. If using unsalted butter, increase salt in recipe to 1 teaspoon.
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar light or dark

The Wet Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

The Dry Ingredients-Combine and set aside

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour I use King Arthur Flour and it worked fine. Once again an old recipe, Gold Medal was probably the standard, which has slightly less protein than KA.
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

The Adds

  • 2 cups quick cooking oats NO instant oatmeal please
  • 2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
  • 1 cup flaked sweetened coconut you could probably use unsweetened coconut too.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. (2-3 min) Beat in eggs and vanilla.
  • Gradually add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix well (do not overmix though). Stir in oats, cereal, and coconut.
  • Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. If you have a #40 ice cream scoop (1.75 Tablespoons) use that to create uniform dough balls.
  • Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on pan for 3-5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

I use parchment paper to line my baking sheets.  These cookies can be baked directly on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

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This month’s Food52 Baking Book Club features Stella Park’s BraveTart.  You may remember I previously blogged about her delicious Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies and the debacle of using the printed version in People magazine.  BIG MISTAKE. About a month ago, Omnivore Books hosted Ms.Parks, being a cookbook junkie, I jumped in my car and headed to the City to attend. Got my very own SIGNED copy, uh-huh, uh-huh..doing the happy dance.

Talented dessert chef, blogger, and author of Marbled, Swirled and Layered, Irvin Lin was on hand to moderate the conversation.  Which just proves there is a conspiracy going on as I was FORCED to buy not just one new cookbook but two. Now I have to find shelf-room for his book too. Aiyah!

After her talk, I waited patiently while one woman monopolized the Q&A session (sheesh-some people), they finally picked me and I blurted out “I’m the one who tweeted about processing the honey roasted nuts” and recounted the horrible editing job of her recipe in People magazine. I think of it as a cautionary public service tale for everyone.

And with her great southern drawl (she is from Kentucky) she said: “Oh I know, I hate when they edit recipes and get it wrong!”

I was vindicated.

The book is a reflection of her, warm, friendly and gracious.  BraveTart is a love tome to iconic American treats. The book works due to her attention to detail and thoroughness.  She has reworked recipes such as Oreos and Nutter Butters and transformed them into delicious homey treats while retaining the essence of the original dessert that you remember so well from childhood. With the first bite of her Triple Oatmeal Cookie, I was immediately transported back to my 12-year-old self, reaching into the familiar pink-purple bag of Mother’s Oatmeal Cookies.

Her Triple Oatmeal Cookies are delicious, chewy, toothy cookies. The cookies contain old-fashioned oatmeal, steel cut oats and oat flour, the triple whammy of Oatsville.  Cranberries and pecans are added and provide sweetness and crunch, a scrumptious cookie. Feel free to substitute different dried fruit. Interestingly enough Stella posted that raisins will cause or allow the cookies to spread more than cranberries so keep that in mind.  Dried cherries or diced apricots would be amazing also.  Chocolate chips would, of course, work well also.

I made the dough and followed the instructions to bake the cookies on a foil-lined sheet.  To my surprise, the cookie spread was more than expected.  The first batch was thin, almost like lace cookies. Channeling America’s Test Kitchen I baked subsequent batches on parchment and then on a Silpat.  Here are the results, everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words.

So, the cookies on the left were baked on Silpat, center- parchment, right-foil. An Ah-ha moment.  Like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, “This cookie (right) is too thin, this one (left) is too thick, the center cookie is JUST RIGHT!” Note to self, bake these cookies on parchment.

In the end, they were all good, chewy, buttery, crispy edges and full of oat goodness. They were gobbled up.

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Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (not too soft)
  • ⅔ cup 5 ounces packed light brown sugar
  • ½ cup 3 ½ ounces granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt a bit less if you use Morton’s kosher salt, half the amount if it’s regular table salt plus additional salt (if you wish) for sprinkling
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • ⅔ cup 3 ounces all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup 2 ½ ounces oat flour (alternatively, grind old-fashioned rolled oats in a blender)
  • 1 ⅔ cups 6 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
  • ¼ cup 1 ½ ounces steel-cut oats
  • 1 ¼ cups 5 ounces toasted pecan pieces
  • 1 cup 6 ounces dried cranberries or cherries, if you use raisins the cookies will spread a bit more

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add egg and continue beating until light and creamy.
  • Whisk together flour, oat flour and both oatmeal types. Stir in pecans and cranberries. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined. Batter will be stiff.
  • Arrange portions of dough (about 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons each) onto lined baking sheets. Flatten into disks and optionally sprinkle each with a bit of kosher salt.
  • Bake in preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown on edges but still pale in the middle.
  • Let cool on baking sheet a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Pictures from a cookbook groupie! When will I learn to hold my phone higher?
Apple Crisp (How Do You Like Them Apples)

Apple Crisp (How Do You Like Them Apples)

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My consolation for summer ending is the arrival of Fall, the magical transition that eases us into the coming colder months.  The air is crisp and cool without the icy sting of winter.  I love how the trees drop their leaves creating a carpet of orange and yellow hues.  Yes, I will miss summer’s yummy bounty but the fall season has its rewards. From our weekly trek to the farmer’s market, we will bring home a variety of beautiful apples and pears instead of peaches and plums.  Not a bad trade-off.

dsc04790Too lazy to make a pie I mulled over what to do with the apples, my aha moment came quickly, APPLE CRISP.

Let me get straight to the point.

There is never enough oatmeal, sugar, and buttery goodness blanketing the apples.  Are you with me?  Oh yeah, you are.  More buttery, crunchy, sweet topping, please.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the apple filling-warm, slightly sweet, and spiced with cinnamon and mace.  But I freely admit to being a topping junkie.  My go-to recipe is an adaptation of one I found in The Family Baker by Susan Purdy and yes, she too thinks you can never have enough of the crumble topping.  Feel free to tweak this recipe to your liking. When my kids were little they liked all things sweet. This meant I used only golden delicious apples (sometimes I snuck in a Fuji).

I use a mix similar to my apple pie such as Pippins, Jonagolds, Mutsus, and Fujis in a 1:1 ratio now.  Explore your farmer’s market, there are so many great apples to try.  Ask your friendly apply purveyor which ones hold up well when baked.  I also add pecans to my crisp, I’m sure walnuts or almonds would work well too.  The original recipe calls for nutmeg, I like to use mace.

But, whatever you do…

Don’t forget a scoop or two or three of vanilla ice cream.  That makes it even better!

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How Do You Like Them Apples (Apple Crisp)

Ingredients

Filling:

  • 5-6 apples peeled, cored and sliced (~6 cups of apples) any combination of apples. For a more tart filling use Pippins or Granny Smiths. For a sweeter filling use a combination of Fuji's, Golden Delicious and Pippins (approximately 2 of each)
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 t grated nutmeg or mace
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • dash of salt

Topping (yum)

  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal not instant or quick cook
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter softened
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Mix topping ingredients with pastry blender or fingers until crumbly.
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Butter a 9 inch deep dish casserole or gratin dish.
  • Combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice with apples.
  • Pour apple mixture into dish. Top with crumble mixture.
  • Bake for approximately 40-50 minutes until topping is browned and apples are soft when pierced with a knife.
  • Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard sauce.
Jule’s Granola

Jule’s Granola

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All things southern is the line my daughter uses on her posts from Houston, Texas.  Yes, my Cali girl is now a transplanted Texan, temporarily, hopefully.  She is finishing her 1st year at Rice University and loving it. I now have a vested interest in Texas. This means when I visit her my first question (well after how are you?) is where and what do we eat?!  Houston has great food….very diverse, Tex-Mex, great Pho, fusion, taco trucks, you name it-Houston has it.   Check out the article on the Houston food scene in the Washington Post, Best Food Cities in America.

DSC02416

I started following the blog, The Homesick Texan, a couple of years ago (hmm portent of things to come?).  A transplant to New York City, the author takes us on a culinary tour of her home state.  Great recipes and entertaining writing have led to 2 cookbooks and quite a few followers. She waxed poetically in her blog about her Uncle Austin’s Granola and I was happy to find the same recipe, but in a smaller quantity in her 2nd book.  The intro to the book’s granola recipe describes Uncle Austin’s Granola and how the difference might be the love he puts in it, yadayadayada.  Confused by the different proportions of the ingredients between the 2 recipes I sent an e-mail to her.  Her response was “the proportions are different because they’re different recipes” end of the reply.

Ok, my bad, your intro led me to believe it was the same recipe.  I see she has adopted a “New York attitude”, despite being a Homesick Texan.

Lucky Me I Have a  Go-To Granola Recipe

The granola recipe in her book is ok. The amount of oil and honey creates a very wet mixture. During baking, I lowered the temp to 325 in order to dry the granola without it browning too much. Maybe Uncle Austin’s Granola on her blog is better but I think I will stick to my go-to granola recipe, Jules’s Granola.  Try it, I think you’ll like it.

Granola Tips

The base recipe is old-fashioned oats, brown sugar, maple syrup, oil and vanilla. From there you can vary the add-ins.  I love unsweetened coconut flakes, and any kind of nut works, such as pecans, almonds or pistachios.  Add pepitas and even a bit of sesame seeds as a portion of the nuts (2-3 tablespoons).  Dried fruit such as a mixed berry medley of raisins, dried cranberries, and blueberries or an island-inspired blend of mango, papaya, and pineapple top my list of favorites.  You do you and add whatever you like.

Adding dried milk powder adds a toasty richness and a touch of sweetness.  Though not a whole lot, it does add protein too.  It’s optional but if you have milk powder, by all means, add it.

There are two camps of granola folks, the loose, clump-free one and the clusters camp.  I like clusters or clumps of granola.  The secret is to compress the oats before baking and leaving the pan alone while baking-no stirring!  Place another baking sheet on top of the sheet of oats and…wait for it, step on it. Yep, serious compression.  This will smoosh the oats together and allow them to bake as clusters.  For loose granola, skip this and stir the oats occasionally during baking.

For the holidays, we fill glass jars with our homemade granola to gift to friends and co-workers.  The tags on the jars include a note “Return the jar for a refill next year, xxoo Santa”.  Invariably, the jars all come back.

It’s great sprinkled on top of yogurt and fresh berries or in a bowl with milk.  My favorite way is by itself for the hand-to-mouth toss, but in this world of transparency….gotta tell ya, granola is high in calories, so be judicious…if you’re skipping that burger lunch, have at it, if not, go easy!

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Jules's Granola

My favorite granola of old-fashioned oatmeal, maple syrup, brown sugar, and chock full of fruits and nuts!
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword granola, oatmeal
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup +1 T honey
  • 4 t vanilla
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil substitute coconut oil or butter for vegetable oil, up to 1/4 cup, max.
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1-2 tbsp powdered milk optional
  • 1/2-1 tsp cinnamon optional
  • 5 cups old fashioned oatmeal yeah, like the one with the Quaker on the box
  • 2 cups nuts I use pecans and/or almonds. pistachios also work well. Pumpkin seeds or pepitas can replace 1/4-1/2 cup of nuts as an option
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Add-ins after baking

  • 2 cups mixed dried fruit cut into small pieces cranberries, mango, pineapple, blueberries, raisins, cranberries or my fav, dried blueberries

Instructions

  • Mix first 5 ingredients and powdered milk if using, then add oatmeal, nuts, and coconut flakes and mix well.
    Spread on a lipped baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Cover with another sheet of parchment or silicon mat and cover with the same sized baking sheet. Press down firmly to compress mixture, this is how you get clumps of granola. My secret, I step on the top pan to smash the granola down-it works! 
    Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven for 10 minutes, bake again for another 12 minutes until golden brown. 
    Let cool in pan. Using a spatula or dough scraper lift granola off the sheet. Break granola into desired-size clumps.
    Add dried fruit.
    Store in an airtight container.