Orange Cranberry Granola (because I have too many cookies in the house)

DAY 7, 2020

Okay, I have a serious problem. I have way too many cookies in the house right now. Usually, this isn’t a problem at this time of year because I’m amassing a small army of cookies for the sole purpose of giving those cookies away. These cookies, however, are staying here - AND I CAN’T STOP EATING THEM!!! What was I thinking?! Sure, I’ll just make a dozen of my favorite cookies and have them around the house. No biggie.

So, just for today, I’m utilizing a loophole to take a little break from all of the flour and sugar… because I’ve often included non-cookie items in my holiday cookie baskets! Granola is a natural choice and I’ve included both traditional and grain-free granola in the past.

This granola is awesome if you like the orange/cranberry thing. Me? I love the orange/cranberry thing :) And if you’re not into orange and cranberry but you do love granola, keep reading for ways to customize this to your taste.

step 1: gather your ingredients

A few thoughts about the ingredients, because granola is super flexible and you can really make it your own without being afraid that you’ll ruin the recipe:

• OIL: I’ve made granola with both coconut and olive oil and, honestly, I kinda like the olive oil better. But this time I used coconut oil, so go figure. Either works just fine.

• ORANGES: Zest just one orange for a milder orange flavor, two for a stronger taste. Don’t want your granola to taste like orange? Just leave it out completely and add 1-2 tsp. of vanilla extract to your granola. Easy peasy!

• NUTS: Almost any combination of nuts and seeds would work here. The original recipe called for pecans, and they would be delicious, but I decided to mix things up here. Fee free to use what you like or have on hand. Good options would be pecans, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds (without the shell) , sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, etc. Have fun wit it :)

• CRANBERRIES: If you don’t like cranberries, pretty much any other dried fruit would work. I often use raisins, chopped apricots, or cherries. Pick your favorite and go with it!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and then start assembling your granola.

step 2: make your secret sauce

The secret sauce for this recipe is how you will make sure your granola actually tastes orange-y. Grate your orange zest on a microplace and add the sugar to the orange zest. Rub it all together with your fingers until it’s bright orange and smells amazing.

Be sure to grate off just the bright orange zest and not the whiter pith of the orange.

The secret sauce to this recipe: orange zest and sugar rubbed together until combined. It’s a beautiful marriage.

step 3: combine all of your ingredients except nuts and fruit

In a large bowl, mix together oats, salt, and cinnamon. Add oil and maple syrup and mix again.

While we’re here, let’s talk about maple syrup. Real maple syrup is like liquid gold! When buying your syrup, look for one labeled “Robust Taste” - this is the most maple-y of maple syrups. Formerly, this was known as “Grade B” maple syrup, but the maple syrup people changed their categorizations a few years ago because us normal folks thought Grade B (which was the darker, more flavorful syrup) was a class below Grade A (which was the lighter syrup in color and taste) - as if you should have only bought Grade B if you couldn’t find Grade A. Which was SO WRONG!!! Grade B was the good stuff!! It’s full name is now “Grade A Dark Color, Robust Taste,” (Yes, they made it even more confusing by making the old Grade B into the new Grade A… clearly, someone didn’t think this through) although many companies don’t put that whole name on the label. Just make sure to look for the words “Robust Taste.” It puts all other maple syrups to shame. If you want to know more about maple syrup grades, this website explains it all.

The other thing to know about real maple syrup is that it can be expensive. If you’re not careful, you’ll pay way more than you need to for it. I’ve found the best prices on real maple syrup at Trader Joe’s, BJ’s, and Thrive Market. If at all possible, avoid buying your maple syrup at the grocery store. It’s ridiculously expensive there.

If you don’t like orange, you could leave it out and add a tsp. of vanilla to get a granola that has a more traditional flavor. Granola is forgiving when it comes to the ingredients so play around until you find what you like best :)

Please buy 100% Pure Maple Syrup, Robust Taste ONLY. Please, my friends, please! If you’re going to pay a for the real thing you’d might as well get all of the flavor possible out of it!!!

step 4: bake your granola

Pour your granola out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread it out into a thin layer across the whole sheet. Bake your granola for 10 minutes. Then remove from the oven, add your nuts and/or seeds, toss it all together, spread it back out, and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

The original recipe calls for baking your granola for a total of 24 - 28 minutes, but at 24 minutes my granola was a little over done. If you’ve followed the instructions above, you’ve baked your granola for a total of 20 minutes, so far. At that 20 minute mark, take a peek at your granola. If your kitchen smells fantastic and your granola is ever-so-slightly golden on top, it’s done - you can take it out of the oven. If not, put it back in for one more minute and then check it again. Continue this at one minute intervals until it looks just right. Seriously, only one minute at time. Towards the end of baking, granola and the oven are kinda like my kids playing together… everything’s fine, everything’s fine, and then WHAM! someone hit someone else over the head with a fist full of Magnatiles! Point being, it’s super temperamental and you need to watch your granola closely to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Ready for the first go-round in the oven. Get ready, my friends - this stuff is about to make your whole house smell amazing!

This was my nuts/seeds combo for this batch: walnuts, pumpkin sees, and shaved coconut. Use whatever you want or have on hand, other than peanuts. I just don’t think orange/cranberry/peanut sounds very good…

step 4: cool your granola + add fruit

Once out of the oven, allow your granola to cool completely on the baking sheet. Once cool, add yoru granola and toss to combine. Transfer granola to a glass canister for storage. This recipe will keep for several weeks on the counter if it is in a sealed container.

Mistakes Made…

It’s pretty hard to mess up granola. There are really only two areas where things can go terribly wrong, and I let one of them happen this time…

The first way you can ruin granola is by using too much salt. This, I didn’t do. But, seriously, be careful when measuring your salt!

What I did do is break my own rule of watching the cookie (or, in this case, the granola) more than the timer - I just set my timer and walked away. The result? My granola was a little burnt. Not so burnt that I had to toss it, but burnt enough that it will affect the taste. Watch your food more than the timer - it’s like my cardinal rule for baking, and I broke it here. Ugh. Lesson learned. Again.


Enjoy, my friends :).