Adapted by Virginia and Adele Shakal from a recipe found in a 1970’s version of The Mother’s Almanac by Margarite Kelly and Elia Parsons.
Depending on whether you like chewy or crispy granola, preheat your oven to 250 or 300 degrees.
Heat 1/2 cup canola or olive oil, 1/2 cup honey, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
I usually use a Pyrex 1 cup measuring cup and 15 seconds in the microwave. You can use any kind of honey… clover’s good but others will add nuances to the flavor. Use natural rather than synthetic vanilla flavoring.
In a 13×9″ pan, gently mix 4 cups rolled oats, 1 cup wheat germ, 4 ounces of nuts, and 3 tablespoons of flour. You can also add some oat bran or pine nuts at this point.
I use a metal pan but whatever you’ve got handy works.
Mom usually chooses either pecans, almonds, or walnuts, or a mixture of those three. Nuts usually are available in 4 our 6 ounce bags, and tossing in an extra 2 ounces is OK, too. You can chop them with a nut grinder or leave them whole. I usually use whole wheat flour, but white flour is OK too.
Add the honey mixture to the dry ingredients in the pan. Stir gently with a big wooden spoon.
Bake for 10 minutes, then pull out the pan and stir gently with the big wooden spoon.
Bake for another 10 minutes, then pull out the pan and stir it again.
Bake for another 10 minutes, then pull the pan out of the oven and let the granola cool.
If you want to add any dried fruits, you can add them at either the first or second stirring, depending on your taste. I’ve experimented with dried cranberries, blueberries, apricots, raisins, golden raisins, and dates.
Spoon some of the warm granola into a bowl for a real treat. Store your granola in an airtight container. Serve it with milk as morning cereal, or over vanilla ice cream for dessert. Or use it to stuff baked apples, the recipe I’ll be sharing tomorrow.
If some members of your family like chewy granola and others want crunchy, preheat your oven to 250, and after the 30 minutes of baking are done, spoon half of the warm granola into your container to cool there with the container open. Bake the remaining granola, stirred and spread out so it makes a thinner layer in the now-emptier pan, for 10 minutes. Store this crunchier granola in a second air-tight container after it is completely cooled in the pan.
Note that with careful supervision, children as young as two or three years old can help with this granola recipe, either measuring the dry ingredients or grinding the nuts, or doing the first stirring before the pan is put into the oven the first time. Kindergardeners can do all the stirring if they’re outfitted with a sturdy apron and an oven mitt for the hand which steadies the hot pan, and if your wooden spoon has a good handle. Some elementary schoolers and most middle schoolers can make it themselves if you’re nearby to keep an eye on them.
And college students love getting a big double-bagged Ziplock of homemade granola in the mail (yes, it ships well, especially in the cooler weather of fall and winter).
Thanks, Mom.