Cinnamon dolce meets granola
| • | Subtle Tea |
By Elaine Magee
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Q. I would love for you to invent an exciting granola. I enjoy granola as a snack and I love to mix it into my yogurt as a snack. I'm just tired of the granola you can buy at the store, and I'm willing to make it at home.
A. I can't explain this, but when reading this reader's request, I was instantly inspired to create a breakfast granola that smacks of a Starbucks latte. This works out well because I am using strong coffee as a substitute for some of the margarine or oil that is normally added in homemade granola recipes. I used 3 tablespoons of canola oil, 3 tablespoons of honey, 4 tablespoons of extra strong coffee, and vanilla extract as the liquid that gets drizzled over the dry ingredients.
Oats, sliced almonds, pecan pieces, brown sugar and ground flaxseed made up the dry ingredients for the granola. The result was a nicely flavored, crunchy, high-fiber granola that everyone I shared it with loved and that kept well in a sealed container for several weeks. This granola may not seem "healthful" because the fat grams are a bit high, but those grams come from mostly "smart fats" (monounsaturated fat and plant omega-3s) courtesy of the nuts, flaxseed and canola oil.
This granola works well with vanilla yogurt, as a topping for smoothies and by itself with some fruit for breakfast.
CINNAMON DOLCE GRANOLA
Position rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 300-degrees. Line a jellyroll pan with foil and generously coat it with canola cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine oats, flaxseed, almonds, pecans, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
In a small saucepan, combine canola oil, strong coffee and honey and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until nice and hot and everything has combined well (about 3 minutes). Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in vanilla.
Pour the coffee mixture over the oat mixture in the large bowl and stir well quickly to distribute the liquid evenly. Spread the granola on the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown (about 30 minutes), stirring every 10 minutes. Transfer jellyroll pan to a cooling rack and cool granola completely. Store granola in an airtight container or sealable bag.
Makes about 10 (3/4-cup) servings.
Elaine Magee is a registered dietitian and author of "Food Synergy." Find out more at www.recipedoctor.com.
