Best Granola Ever
I wouldn’t claim to be an expert at most things, but I am an expert at making this granola. Mostly because I eat it in handfuls and it barely lasts a day before I have to make it all over again. I’ve been tinkering with this recipe for years but it was first inspired by the granola you take home after a meal at Eleven Madison Park, so you know she fancy.
A couple of notes: Granola is super adaptable, which makes it the perfect snack to make when you’re in the middle of a lockdown. You can pretty much substitute any nuts, seeds, and dried fruit you like, and tweak sugar and salt levels to suit your own palate. The only way you can go wrong with this recipe is if the granola burns.
To avoid the burn, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil. Trust me. Other recipes may tell you to use parchment paper. Don’t follow their foolish ways. The aluminum foil allows you to quickly pull the entire sheet of granola off the pan to cool. If you leave it cooling on the pan, it will continue to cook, and you’ll end up with burnt granola. There are more elaborate ways to avoid this, but in a pinch, foil is your friend.
Sour Cherry and Pistachio Granola
2 ¾ cups rolled oats (I sometimes sub in a cup of instant oats because the different texture makes for good clumps!)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup pistachio “nut meats” (that’s what Trader Joe’s calls them and I find it amusing)
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup raw pepitas
2 tbsp roasted, unsweetened cacao nibs
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dried Montmorency cherries
Preheat oven to 300°F
In a large bowl, mix oats, pistachios, coconut, almonds, pepitas, cacao nibs.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the sugar, maple syrup, and olive oil together, stirring until all of the sugar is dissolved.
Fold the liquid into your dry ingredients, sprinkle salt evenly as you are mixing to avoid extra salty spots.
On a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, spread mixture. Bake for 15 minutes and turn the pan to keep it cooking evenly.
Check the granola after another 15 minutes and if it seems dangerously close to burning, remove the pan from the oven. Grabbing the two short edges of the aluminum foil, slide the whole sheet off the pan to cool.
Break up immediately for looser texture, or let it cool a completely for larger chunks!
Once cooled, mix in the sour cherries. Store in an airtight container.
COVID BAIL OUT NYC
COVID-19 is ripping through New York City’s jail system. Rikers Island has the highest rate of infection in the world, and many people are stuck there because they or their families cannot afford to post bail. COVID Bail Out NYC is raising funds to help post bail for medically vulnerable people who are being held in NYC jails, and to give the public defenders, social workers, and community activists the resources to offer post-release support. The system is breathtakingly discriminatory and designed to trap and keep people in it. If you can contribute to helping people post bail and await their court date at home, please do. If you need extra incentive, donate here by Venmo before April 17th and you’ll be entered in a raffle to win original works by artists Nicole Eisenman and Juliana Huxtable!