Wow, day 4 of brunch week. I hope you have been following along with all the amazing brunch week recipes! Today, I’m sharing a granola recipe. Not just any granola… This is my coconut cherry granola that made its debut at the Central Florida Food Blogger Bake Sale this past weekend.
Granola is a great make-ahead food. I love to make granola every other week. I typically mix it in with my morning greek yogurt and fruit. If you were entertaining for brunch I would suggest making one or two varieties of granola and creating a granola bar. Chopped fresh fruit, plain or vanilla greek yogurt, granola…. you get the idea. Let your guest build yogurt parfaits! You also won’t have to stress over who likes to eat what… when you give your guest the option it takes the stress off the hostess-with-the-mostess… yah I totally just said that.
Like I mentioned above, I sold this coconut cherry granola at our annual food blogger bake sale. I happened to be the only granola recipes contributed this year. You know–I try to balance out all the unhealthy and fattening baked goods with a little healthy. A nice breakfast treat. While we are on the topic let’s talk about the Central Florida Food Blogger Bake Sale for a minute. This was my second year co-organizing the bake-sale with my good friend Julie from The Little Kitchen (and third year particiapting). I’m always amazed by the generosity of our fellow food blogging community.
This year we were at The Winter Garden Harvest Festival. With that being said all participants needed to attend the entire day. No one complained… even though it was raining, we all just enjoyed the presence of one another. We talked about food, and baking, blogging, and our personal lives. Despite our rainy weather we all had a great time. I’m sad to say we didn’t raise half the amount of money that we did last year (I know a big part was weather and the other part was that so many of us had pre-sales and other fundraisers outside of our one-day bake sale). However, even though we didn’t raise as much as we wanted I know that all of the money is going to a great cause. We all are fighting to end childhood hunger in America. 1 out of 5 kids in America struggle with childhood hunger! That’s over 16 million children! According to the No Kid Hungry site we helped feed 14 children for an entire year!
I must also give a big special shout-out to the amazing sponsors who donated to our raffle. Without them we wouldn’t have raised half the amount that we did!
KitchenAid donated a $300 Food Processor which our friend over at Droolius.com happened to win!
In a sauce pan on low heat, melt 1/4 cup of coconut oil. Once the coconut oil is melted (do not let it boil) add the coconut extract. Mix well and set to the side.
In a large bowl add quick cooking oats, brown sugar, and sliced almonds. Mix well, then pour the coconut oil on top. Mix some more until well incorporated. Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven, carefully mix and add 1-1/2 cups coconut flakes. Mix well and then place the pan back in the oven for 30 additional minutes. Remove from the oven, mix, and bake 20 minutes longer. Pour the baked granola back into the large bowl and add dried cherries. Mix and let the granola cool. Package in sealed containers and store for up to one week.
Ever since I first started making my own granola last year–I’ve been hooked! I’m now finding myself experimenting and making new granola recipes. Last month, I joined my friend Christine from Cook the Story and MJ from The Merry Gourmet for the first ever Food Reading Monthly Twitter Party. One of my goals in 2013 is to improve on my writing. So, this idea came about last November, and I immediately placed Best Food Writing 2012 edited by Holly Hughes on my Christmas list. Lucky for me…. Santa brought it for me (i.e., my husband)!
So on the last Thursday of the month at 9:00pm Eastern Time we talk about one essay or story from Best Food Writing 2012, edited by Holly Hughes. Last month, we discussed ‘Sweet Spot’ by Paul Graham. This was a beautifully written story about harvesting maple syrup of all things. Something of which I had little knowledge of how tedious and pain staking the process is. Living in Florida I’m not really exposed to maple trees or maple harvesting. I read the short story before bed one evening. Big mistake. My entire nights sleep was filled with a variety of dreams that all had to do with maple syrup. I woke up the next morning starving and simply wanting to gulp an expensive bottle of precious maple syrup. And that my friends is exactly how this cinnamon-maple granola recipe was born.
Our next chat will be next Thursday, February 28th at 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. We will be discussing ‘Lasagna Bolognese’ by Deb Perelman (p. 103). You can also find this piece online on Deb Perelman’s blog The Smitten Kitchen. This online book club is open for anyone to participate. You just have to have a twitter account. Whether or not you are a food blogger, I hope you can join us and indulge on a short story as a dozen of us food bloggers tweet about the story, our emotions tied with it, and our overall thoughts.
In a sauce pan combine maple syrup and canola oil. Heat until hot but not bubbling, about 5 minutes.
While the syrup is warming in a large bowl combine oats, chopped nuts, wheat germ, and cinnamon. Mix well then pour the syrup mixture over the granola. Mix well again and then spread out on a lined baking sheet.
Bake for 45 minutes at 300 degrees. Make sure you mix the granola every 15 minutes. Once granola is out of the oven and has cooled--store in airtight containers (such-as mason jars) for up to 1 week.
If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you know that I’ve been planning my trip of a lifetime to Europe for the past few months. The time has finally arrived where I’m departing and saying bon voyage for a few weeks while I enjoy the flavors of the Mediterranean. I’ve lined up a few of my favorite food bloggers and friends in-real-life to share delicious recipes with my readers!
My first guest today, is a good food blogging friend of mine, Sam from Sweet Remedy! We both share a love for granola. When Sam told me what she was going to share with my readers I knew instantly that everyone was going to go smitten over this! This is one of the first recipes I plan to make upon arriving home from vacation!
Hi Katie’s Cucina readers! It is my absolute pleasure to be posting here today in Katie’s absence. My name is Sam and I blog over at Sweet Remedy. Katie and I met at Food Blog Forum in Orlando last March and since then we’ve slowly become great friends and I hope to see her again soon! I joined her for a Google + Hangout with Christine of Cook the Story and we talked all about our mutual love for ice cream, I’m sure we could have gone on for days.
I was very resistant to summer’s end but now that I’ve been baking and cooking with the seasonal foods of autumn, I can say that I’m ready to embrace the cooler weather, sweaters, hats and cute boots. Let’s just keep the snow away for a good while, like last year. I live in the North East, the beautiful Hudson Valley of NYS and our winter last year was almost non-existent. I loved every second of it! Being a New York native and hating snow is a strange combination. I think snow is pretty, but I hate being cold and I will confess that I am one of those people that gets crazy when the roads get slushy. Everyone forgets how to operate a vehicle properly so I just stay off the roads. This can be a big pain when you have plans, or something important to get done. I do really love to witness the seasons changing and the Hudson Valley is a great place to do that. Plus, we have an abundance of amazing farms and local products that I don’t want to ever give up. Our proximity to New York City is also a big plus as day trips are always a possibility.
Apple trees and pumpkin patches are abundant right now. The leaves are changing and everyone is baking the usual apple crisp, pumpkin muffins and fall-flavored pies. I wanted to do something that would be healthy and have a huge burst of pumpkin flavor so I came up with this pumpkin granola recipe to share with you all.
All the normal ingredients for granola are present in this recipe but with a sweet addition of pumpkin purée, pumpkin pie spice and pepitas aka pumpkin seeds! I was really excited to bring this recipe idea into reality and the final product was absolutely amazing. It was just the right amount of that pumpkin taste we all crave in autumn. Remember, if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in your pantry, don’t worry. It is easy to make yourself.
A few weeks ago, I shared Apple Pie Granola on my blog and I thought I was a genius. I continued and made this Pumpkin Pie Granola. If I were to choose a favorite out of these two granola creations I would have to say that the pumpkin granola came out much better and was a crowd pleaser. I myself only had a few bites of it as I gave the majority of it out as gifts. Don’t you wish we were friends?
In a medium sized bowl, combine the oats, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans and coconut – set aside.
In a skillet on the stovetop combine the pumpkin, oil and honey and heat on medium - low heat. Whisk together and add the pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Cook for about 5 minutes, stir often to avoid burning. Some oil will separate – this is normal.
Let your pumpkin mixture cool and add to the bowl of oats, seeds and nuts. Mix until combined. Spread mixture across 2 baking sheets and put in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
Take baking sheet out of the oven and let cool, breaking any large pieces. Place in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Reminder! If you are local, you will have the opportunity to buy this very granola at our Central Florida Food Bloggers Bake Sale tomorrow in Winter Park, Florida from 10am-1pm. They will even be packaged in mason jars!
I have been on a granola kick lately. Ever since I got a few bags of granola from the Southeast Produce Conference I’ve been eating it like crazy in my yogurt. Which is another thing I don’t eat often. It typically doesn’t bode well with my stomach; however, for the past few months I’ve been feeling great–so I’ll keep on eating the yogurt until my body tells me otherwise (TMI?).
Because of the recent great granola kick of 2012 I’ve even added a board on Pinterest dedicated to all things granola. So if your a granola lover… I suggest you follow it. I probably pin at least one new granola recipe a day! That is how I found this recipe–although I’ll tell you there are few granola recipes that have really stuck out to me; hence why I was inspired to use the base of this recipe and add and subtract ingredients out.
I will note that I was happy with the flavor combo and when I mixed in the dried blueberries into the batch of hot granola my house instantly smelt like a blueberry pie! Make sure you break apart the blueberries or else they will clump together. This was not a clumped together type of granola it was definitely in separate pieces. Which I was perfectly ok with because I planed on eating this in yogurt.
As always, make sure you store the granola in an air tight container like a mason jar as pictured. This big batch of granola lasted me two weeks. Some may argue and say that’s too long but it still tasted fine to me (and I’m alive and writing about it). Always store at your own risk, and remember that you can be creative with granola and make it your own!
Author: Katie Jasiewicz of Katie’s Cucina Inspired by Bon Appetit
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 5 cups
Ingredients
3 cups old-fashioned oats
¾ cup chopped pecans
¾ cup chopped California Walnuts
¼ cup soy nuts
2 tbsp flax seeds
4 tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ teaspoon (generous) salt
⅓ cup honey
2 tbsp Canola oil
1 cup dried blueberries
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Using a rimmed baking sheet line it with parchment paper.
In a large bowl mix the old-fashioned oats, chopped pecans and walnuts, soy nuts, flax seeds, and brown sugar, and set to the side.
In a sauce pan add the canola oil and honey over medium-low heat until smooth.
Pour the honey mixture over the oat/nut mixture and toss. Spread the oat/nut mixture on the prepared sheet.
Bake until golden brown about 40 minutes; mixing every 10 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a rack and stir in the one cup of dried blueberries. Cool and store in an air tight container for up to 1 week.
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. {more}
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. 
