The All Purpose Kitchen Made-To-Order recipe series presents foundational recipes with multiple variations. The standard Made-To-Order recipe serves as a basic formula that can then be customized. In the case of these recipes, there are way too many delicious flavor profiles for me to present every option. I’ll always give a few of my own favorite preparations, but I highly encourage you to go off script and use the recipe to create your own favorite meal, exactly the way you like it — Made-To-Order.
I’ve spent years perfecting my granola recipe, and I highly recommend that you give it a try. It’s crunchy, packed with flavor, and pleasantly sweet. It’s also vegan, gluten free, dairy free; and if you omit the nuts, can be nut free. Quick and easy to make, this granola is delicious, and goes anywhere that a granola should. Enjoy it with milk, yogurt, or as a snack by itself.
Through dozens of rounds of recipe testing, I made sure that the granola breaks into chunks and doesn’t crumble; that the ratio of oil and sugar is just right; that the bottom of the granola doesn’t brown too quickly; and that the recipe provides a blueprint that can be adapted for countless variations. All so that you can enjoy your granola experience as much as I do — or almost as much, I admit I’m a tad fanatical.
An Ode to Granola
Granola, sounds boring right? Well, I disagree. When asked what my favorite food is, my wife answered “granola.” She was right. If I truly had to choose only one thing to eat (which would be devastating), it would probably be my morning bowl of granola.
Barring any morning plans or breakfast dates, I have granola for breakfast every day. That doesn’t mean that I eat the same thing every morning. Typically I have several different granolas open at a time, which I mix and match liberally. I always add fresh fruit, a handful of nuts and dried fruit, some extra cinnamon, a little vanilla protein powder, and whatever dairy-free milk is in stock in the refrigerator. Breakfast of champions, but that’s one man’s opinion.
If you ask me, granola is all too often underrated. There are so many reasons that it is a genuinely interesting food. To start, granola is able to assimilate so many different ingredients and flavors, which is also why it makes a great addition to the Made-To-Order recipe series. Granola in general has great texture, with plenty of crunch from nuts and toasted oats, along with some chew from heartier grains; and as pieces soften in milk, the range of textures continues to broaden. Add rich roasted nuts, aromatic spices and sweet dried fruit, and you get a mixture that is orders of magnitude more balanced and interesting than “breakfast cereal”.
In this particular recipe, the orange oil and cinnamon smell intoxicating as the granola is in the oven. Coconut oil amplifies the nutty flavors in the granola, and steel-cut oats boost the complexity of flavor and texture of old-fashioned oats. Maple syrup and brown sugar lend delicious notes of caramelized sugar, making this granola absolutely snackable and craveable.
Why This Recipe Works
Lower oven temp
Baking the granola at 325 °F ensures that the granola cooks evenly and that the sugars caramelize more slowly. The oats have time to bake all the way through without the bottom or edges burning, resulting in a granola with delicious toasty flavor that stays crunchy over time.
Press it good
Packing the granola into a tight, thin layer provides structure. By densely packing the oats, and keeping the edges of the granola tight to the center, the resulting granola breaks into chunks and not crumbs. Pressing the granola into a thin layer, no more than ½-inch, also helps all of the oats to fully cook through.
Ratio of oats
Using some steel-cut oats in the granola is crucial. The grains are more coarse and less processed, lending heartier flavor and texture. But too much steel-cut oats, and the granola becomes crumbly — the wide flat surfaces of the old-fashioned oats are necessary to bind the granola together. I found that a 3-to-1 ratio of old-fashioned oats to steel-cut oats was the perfect balance of structure, flavor, and texture.
Create a binder
Grinding some of the old-fashioned oats to create a binder is the final factor that helps the granola hold its shape. Together with the coconut oil and sugar, the ground oats create the mortar that binds the old-fashioned oats, steel-cut oats and nuts together. A spice grinder or blade coffee grinder works great to grind the oats. A food processor works fine as well. Otherwise, using store-bought oat flour or almond flour is perfect and eliminates the grinding step altogether.
Winning flavor
Irresistible flavor from the coconut oil, orange oil, maple syrup and cinnamon makes this granola distinct and memorable. Using raw nuts, ensures that they roast to perfection as the granola cooks. Adding dried fruit after the granola has fully cooled, prevents it from getting firm and dried out.
The Process
Whisk the oats and nuts together. Use a spice grinder or food processor to grind 2 tablespoons of the old-fashioned oats, or you can use store-bought oat flour or almond flour. If the nuts you are using are whole, coarsely chop them before adding them to the oats.
Whisk the coconut oil, sweeteners, spices, extracts and salt together — all remaining ingredients except for the dried fruit. Whisk until the ingredients are evenly mixed. The sugar will not fully dissolve.
Pour the sugar mixture over the oat mixture, and fold together with a rubber spatula until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Transfer the granola to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using a rubber spatula, press the granola into an even layer. Continue pressing the granola from the center out towards the edges to create a thin tightly packed layer. Make sure that the edges are as thick and densely packed as the center — keep the edges tight. It is worth taking a few extra minutes to do this thoroughly. A thin layer will help the granola cook evenly, and tightly packed oats will provide structure so that the granola doesn’t crumble. Make sure the granola is no more than ½-inch thick. Realistically, I’d say I usually press the granola to ⅜-inch — I realize that’s very specific, but like I said, I’m a granola fanatic.
Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half way through. When ready, the granola will smell fragrant and toasted; the oats will be light golden-brown, and the nuts will be dark and roasted; and the center will give only slightly when pressed, and the edges will feel firm. If it is particularly humid when you make the granola, it may take up to 10 additional minutes in the oven.
Let the granola cool completely. Break the granola into bite sized chunks, and sprinkle the dried fruit over the top. Store the granola in an airtight container at room temperature.
How to Customize Your Granola
Everyone has different preferences, of course, and no one granola can be everyone’s favorite variety. At the very least, anyone who’s interested in granola will enjoy this original recipe, and with all of the suggested variations, there’s a granola for everyone here at The All Purpose Kitchen. But if you can’t find the flavors that speak to your taste, take the recipe and make it your own — that’s exactly the idea behind the Made–To–Order recipe series.
Changing the recipe to suit your preferences is as easy as swapping the nuts, dried fruit, sweetener, or baking spices. With simple substitutions there are myriad combinations and flavors to explore, like a Ginger Granola, or Cherry Vanilla Granola.
Then there’s the class of recipe that includes an additional ingredient that changes the flavor, but has a negligible effect on the ratio of the other ingredients. Try adding cocoa powder and instant espresso powder for a Mocha Granola; or rum and butter for a Rum Raisin Granola.
Delve into the world of nut butters, and you instantly open up a whole other category of granolas — these, a little softer, heartier and richer. Nutella granola, almond butter granola, and tahini granola are all delicious examples.
Customization Advice
- The simplest changes you can make are substitutions of the nuts and dried fruit. Choose any kind you want and continue with the recipe as written. I recommend that the nuts be raw and coarsely chopped. If the dried fruit is very moist, either throw it on top of the granola for the last 10 minutes of cooking to dry it out slightly, or store it separately from the granola and combine it only when you eat it. Storing the granola with dried fruit that has a lot of moisture, such as certain dates, figs or apricots, will make it go stale. If the dried fruit has a similar moisture content to your average raisins or dried cranberries, then it is fine to mix it in with the granola — I do this all the time with no adverse effects.
- Another easy variation that you can make is with the spices. Instead of cinnamon and cloves, try any combination of ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, star anise, or turmeric. ¼ teaspoon will provide a subtle flavor, ½ teaspoon will be noticeable but balanced, and 1 teaspoon will deliver a strong, in-your-face flavor.
- Substituting the sugar also offers lots of delicious flavor variations. Try using honey, white sugar, turbinado sugar, agave, or golden syrup instead of the brown sugar and maple syrup from the original recipe. Keep the ratios of granulated and liquid sweeteners relatively similar, within a tablespoon of the original recipe, or else the cook time and final texture may change significantly.
- Certain ingredients you can add (or remove) without affecting the overall structure of the granola. This includes extracts and spices; or flavored powders, such as cocoa powder, malted milk powder, peanut butter powder, matcha, and instant espresso. Add or subtract any of these ingredients to create some bold flavor combinations. For the powders, add 1 teaspoon at a time to the oil and sugar mixture, tasting as you go. When the flavor of the added ingredient in the mixture is slightly more intense than you would like in the final granola, it is ready — the flavor will be more subtle when mixed with the oats and baked.
- You can also add seeds or flaked coconut to the oat mixture — in addition to, or instead of the nuts. Try 1 tablespoon for small seeds, such as sesame, poppy or flax seeds; 2 tablespoons for medium sized seeds, such as sunflower or pumpkin seeds; and ¼ cup for flaked coconut.
- Adding nut butter to the granola is absolutely delicious, but requires more substantial changes to the recipe. I’ll be adding another recipe soon with instructions for making your very own nutella, almond butter, or tahini granola. So stay tuned!
That’s only scratching the surface of the options and potential for granola variations. If you try something different, or if you have a flavor request, I would love to hear about it.
Recommended Variations
Follow these minor changes to the original recipe for new and exciting granola flavors:
Cherry Vanilla Cardamom: Substitute white sugar for the brown sugar. Add 1 tablespoon malt powder to sugar mixture. Increase vanilla to 2 teaspoons. Add ½ teaspoon cardamom, only ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon, omit cloves, and omit orange oil. Substitute 2 tablespoons almond flour for the ground oats. Substitute coarsely chopped raw almonds for the pecans, and dried cherries for the cranberries.
Mocha Granola: Add 2 teaspoons cocoa powder, and 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder to the sugar mixture. Omit the orange oil, cloves, and cranberries. Substitute coarsely chopped raw almonds for the pecans.
Tropical Granola: Substitute white sugar for the brown sugar. Use 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger and ¼ teaspoon cardamom instead of the cinnamon and cloves. Substitute coarsely chopped macadamia nuts for the pecans. Substitute diced dried pineapple for the cranberries. Optional: add ¼ cup dried coconut flakes.
What You’ll Need
A rimmed baking sheet: No kitchen is complete without a reliable baking sheet, or sheet pan — it’s one of the most used pieces of equipment in my kitchen.
Silicone spatula: I’ve had several silicone spatulas break or crack. This set is by far the best I’ve tried and has just the right flexibility and durability. Plus the seamless design makes it extremely easy to clean.
Airtight storage container: I use these at home. I’ve used these in restaurant kitchens. They’re the golden standard of tupperware.
Notes
Although oats and nuts are naturally gluten free, they are often processed in facilities that also handle wheat. To ensure that the recipe is gluten free, make sure to check the labels on your ingredients.
I use a blade coffee grinder to grind the oats. A food processor works as well. Using store-bought oat flour or almond flour eliminates the grinding step altogether.
Melt coconut oil in the microwave, in 20 second intervals, until fluid. Measure the melted coconut oil; measuring the solid coconut oil will be less accurate. Additional melted oil can be returned to its original container. If you don’t want any coconut flavor, use refined coconut oil, which is neutral.
If it is particularly humid when you make the granola, it may take up to 10 additional minutes in the oven.
Read the Customization Advice section above for ideas of how to customize your granola.
Recipes for more granola flavors coming soon!
Granola — Made-To-Order Recipe Series
Ingredients
- 1½ cups + 2 tablespoons Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
- ½ cup Steel-Cut Oats
- ½ cup raw Pecan Pieces
- ¼ cup packed Dark Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup melted Unrefined Coconut Oil
- 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅛ teaspoon Orange Oil
- ¼ cup Dried Cranberries
Instructions
- Set oven rack to middle position, and preheat oven to 325 °F. Finely grind 2 tablespoons of old-fashioned oats using a spice grinder or food processor. In a large bowl, whisk together ground oats, remaining 1.5 cups old-fashioned oats, steel-cut oats, and pecans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, cloves, salt, vanilla, and orange oil. With a rubber spatula, fold sugar mixture into oat mixture until evenly distributed.
- Transfer granola to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press granola into an even layer. Continue pressing granola from center out towards edges to create a thin tightly packed layer, less than ½-inch thick. Make sure the edges are as thick and tightly packed as the center. It is worth taking a few extra minutes to do this thoroughly.
- Bake granola until edges are firm, and center gives only slightly when pressed; oats are light golden brown, and nuts are dark; granola smells fragrant and toasty; about 30 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through.
- Transfer baking sheet to a cooling rack; allow granola to cool completely. Break granola into 2-inch chunks, and sprinkle dried cranberries over the top. Store granola in an airtight container for up to a month.
Notes
- Mocha Granola: Add 2 teaspoons cocoa powder, and 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder to the sugar mixture. Omit the orange oil, cloves, and cranberries. Substitute coarsely chopped raw almonds for the pecans.
- Tropical Granola: Substitute white sugar for the brown sugar. Use 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger and ¼ teaspoon cardamom instead of the cinnamon and cloves. Substitute coarsely chopped macadamia nuts for the pecans. Substitute diced dried pineapple for the cranberries. Optional: add ¼ cup dried coconut flakes.
- Although oats and nuts are naturally gluten free, they are often processed in facilities that also handle wheat. To ensure that the recipe is gluten free, make sure to check the labels on your ingredients.
- I use a blade coffee grinder to grind the oats. A food processor works as well. Using store-bought oat flour or almond flour eliminates the grinding step altogether.
- Melt coconut oil in the microwave, in 20 second intervals, until fluid. Measure the melted coconut oil; measuring the solid coconut oil will be less accurate. Additional melted oil can be returned to its original container. If you don’t want any coconut flavor, use refined coconut oil, which is neutral.
- If it is particularly humid when you make the granola, it may take up to 10 additional minutes in the oven.
- Read the Customization Advice section above for ideas of how to customize your granola.
- Recipes for more granola flavors coming soon!
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