Homemade Granola: Dried Cherry & Almond

Some foods beg to be made at home and granola is one of those foods. Ingredients are pretty inexpensive, especially compared to store-bought granola which is not. Add to this the fact that the actual cooking is simple and results delicious. Even if eaten with little or no restraint, a batch of the good stuff lasts much, much longer than a store-bought bag.

It's also true that any Monday morning beginning with a bowl of homemade granola & yogurt is instantly a better Monday morning. It helps that this recipe tastes great on ice cream or as a snack as well. And, if you're a kind and thoughtful gift giver, homemade granola is a well-received hostess or holiday gift.  Pack it in a freezer-friendly storage bag and your lucky recipient will think of you kindly some Monday morning.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Sarah Karnasiewicz

Ingredients

½ cup almond butter

½ cup honey

¼ cup light brown sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup sliced almonds

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup dried cherries

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a small saucepan on low heat, mix almond butter, honey light brown sugar until combined and stir until melted.

Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, toss together the oats, almonds and salt. Pour almond mixture over the dry ingredients and toss well. This will be stick & messy, but you want everything well coated. Hands may be used if needed– it’s very therapeutic!

Using a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, pat the sticky granola mix into a single layer. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  At the 10 minute mark you want to push the granola around a bit with a wooden spoon for more even baking. The granola will be soft when warm, so this isn’t hard to do Whe you're done pushing it around, don’t worry about flattening it out perfectly. Just do the best you can; this is not a fussy recipe.  Also, while the granola is soft while it's warm, it become crunchy when it cools.

Remove the granola from the oven after 20 minutes and scatter the cherries on top, using the wooden spoon to push the cherries into and around on the granola. You don't want to add the dried fruit before baking or it will get too dried out. Broken clumps and general messiness after you scatter & push around since you will breaking up the granola further when it cools enough for storage.

My original WSJ recipe notes that cooled granola keeps for 3-4 weeks in an airtight container. However, I prefer to store it in the freezer in storage bags, digging out a scoop when needed. Defrosting isn’t necessary at all. There, the granola keeps longer and tastes fresher.

Credits
Photo: Elisabeth Heissner
Ceramic bowl: Susie Heissner