DIY Granola and the Cultural Divide

Feb 23, 2012 | Hometastic Goodness, Stories

I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal which talked about the growing cultural divide among classes in America. The author mentioned different levels of income, living in different locations, the likely presence or absence of religion, whether children in each group are likely to grow up with married parents or not. It was very interesting. The premise of the article was that this cultural divide is very problematic for the future of our country, but it will take grassroots efforts, not top-down legislation to bridge the gap and keep us United.

Care to guess the difference between the two groups which stuck out to me more than any other?

Statistics about single parenthood, unemployment, or crime?

‘Course not.

I was completely distracted by the comment that one group eats cereal and milk is not at all likely to eat yogurt and muesli for breakfast.

I was distracted because we eat yogurt and muesli for breakfast, and I hadn’t considered the fact that it’s kind of posh. I guess my foreign hubs has a bit of poshness about him, though I’d more accurately chalk it up to the cultural differences.

Among those differences is his preference, which I’ve inherited (although I still do oatmeal with peanut butter and honey some mornings) — for yogurt and muesli or granola en la mañana. I digress to ‘splain that the muesli we more commonly ate in the UK and SA differs from the granola we eat here because muesli generally consists of rolled oats that haven’t been cooked (they’ve been soaked usually), whereas the granola oats have spent some time in the oven.

Anywho.

This could bring us back to the not-so-posh side of posh, but I’ve been considering making my own granola since Apple became a publicly traded company. Okay, maybe just since before Tiger Tank could crawl.

Similar to the bread issue that kicked off my affinity for baking our bread myself, this adventure was birthed out of a desire to find a cost-effective and healthy alternative to the expensive granola on the shelves at the grocery store.

So I did some research, dragged my feet, went back and reread the recipes I’d already looked at, and dove in.

Here’s the scoop on how you can too. {Make the granola, not drag your feet, that is.}

Start with this team of champions:

Old Fashioned Oats, Unsweetened Applesauce, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Chopped Pecans, Sliced Almonds, Sea Salt, Honey, Vegetable Oil and Raisins.

Turns out making granola with applesauce is a much healthier choice than the traditional method that calls for lots of oil. Applesauce is so magical.

Preheat your oven to 325F/160C.

In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup applesauce,

2 TBSP honey,

and 2 TBSP vegetable oil. This picture might still be honey. I can’t remember.

Oh wait, there’s the oil.

Warm gently over a low heat with an occasional stir. If you want to talk to the food while you’re at it, that’s up to you. I’m not here to judge.

Meanwhile, stir together 5 cups old fashioned oats,

1/2 cup of slivered almonds and 1 cup chopped pecans…

Why, yes I always measure my nuts into pretty dishes when I’m cooking. It had nothing to do with the Hubs taking pictures.

1/2 cup brown sugar…

{dump}

1/2 tsp of sea salt…

2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.

{I’d like to note here that if you’re not a big fan of the taste of nutmeg you might want to scale it back to 1/4 tsp or skip it all together. Because we eat our granola with yogurt, it mellows it out to perfection for me.}

Stir to nicely combine.

And then pour in the applesauce mixture which should be nice and warm by now.

Stir till all the oats and pecans feel like they’ve had a chance to warm up in the mushy goodness.

{Did I mention that if you haven’t moved into your aunt’s old home and inherited a smiley face spoon, you haven’t lived? Truth.}

Now evenly distribute the glorious contents of your mixing bowl into two 9 x 13 dishes.

Turn the oven down to 300F/150C and bung them into the oven (that’s how my mother-in-love says it) for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes, until the granola is a deep brown. (I just think the hot preheat seems to help with my browning. I might just have a lazy oven.)

When you think it looks good, remove it to cool and boo-yow! The breakfast of my champions! It will get a little crunchier as it cools, but if you like yours good ‘n crunchay let it go a little longer. I keep mine on the softer side for the sake of the little teeth that also like to munch it.

Once it has cooled, stir in 2/3 cup of raisins.

Bask in the glorious goodness. And pat yourself on the back. Or whatever you do to celebrate.

This recipe makes about 8 cups. I like to store it in a cleaned out applesauce jar.

Posh, no?

You can easily halve this recipe to see whether or not you like it before going all out. I think this lasts about a week around these parts. Feel free to add 1/2 or 1 cup sunflower kernels, or other nuts. I was just wasn’t feeling the kernels this time. Sorry guys, maybe next time.

I created a printable recipe card for you. Because I love you. And have fun with creating things in Pages.

Let me know if you decide to try it, and how it goes! I borrowed heavily from Drea Wood’s Granola and Fake Ginger’s while finding my own thang. They’ll help you halve the ingredients if you don’t want a bunch like I did. But for all that work, why not make a bunch? 🙂

Born up a tree!

xCC