First, mix oats and sliced almonds with oil and honey. (At this stage, Ina also uses shredded coconut, but I think coconut is a devil substance.) Toast in the oven.
While the granola base is toasting, mix together dried fruit and cashews. I used all the fruit that Ina called for - apricots, cranberries, and figs - except for cherries. Instead, I just doubled the amount of cranberries.
I had never used dried apricots before, and actually they are really good. As soon as I opened the package, I was hit with the fragrant, citrusy smell of the apricots.
When the granola base is done toasting, you let it cool a bit and then mix everything together. I thought it would be a good idea to mix it all together while it was still sort of hot, because otherwise the honey and oil might dry and wouldn't coat the fruit.
Here's a close-up:
The photos look just like Ina's gorgeous cookbook photos, except I over-baked the granola a tad. I think because I left out the two cups of shredded coconut, there was not enough granola to withstand the 350-degree oven for a sustained period of time.
At any rate, it is delicious; my mom and I couldn't get enough this morning. I think this is a totally do-able recipe for the regular rotation, and I really think this is much more delicious, healthy, and inexpensive than what you can buy in stores. Another win!
1 comment:
I quite liked this granola; it made for a good snack for a week or so afterwards. Val's right - it had a bit of a burnt taste because of the over-baking, but that we kept obsessively eating it all week says something for how good it was in spite of that.
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