Authors: Marisa McClellan
Food in Jars (31 page)
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the granola cool. When the granola is just barely warm, sprinkle the dried blueberries over the top and stir them in.
When the granola is completely cool, store it in an airtight container.
Note:
Because this recipe includes butter, it will have a shorter shelf life than some other granolas. Eat or refrigerate within 4 to 5 days.
T
HE INSPIRATION FOR THIS GRANOLA CAME FROM
a scone recipe my mother often uses. Just barely sweet and fragrant with the scent of orange zest, they are studded with toasted walnuts and dried cranberries. Delicious when first baked, they rapidly lose their appeal as they age, rendering them impossible to eat the second day. This recipe offers similar flavors in a hardier format.
3 cups/255 g old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup/110 g sliced almonds
1 cup/115 g chopped raw walnuts
â
cup/50 g poppy seeds
Zest of 1 orange
¼ cup/60 ml sunflower oil (or other neutral oil)
½ cup/120 ml honey
¼ cup/60 ml orange juice
1 cup/120 g dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C/gas 3.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, walnuts, poppy seeds, and orange zest. Use your hands to toss everything together.
Pour the sunflower oil into a glass measuring cup and swirl it around before adding it to the bowl. Using the same, unwashed cup, measure the honey and add it to the bowl. The residual oil will help the honey exit the cup. Add the orange juice and stir everything together until evenly coated. Spread the mixture out on a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake until the granola is crisp and brown, about 30 to 35 minutes, stirring 2 to 3 times during baking to ensure even browning.
Remove the pan from the oven. Scatter the dried cranberries over the cereal and gently stir to incorporate.
When the granola is completely cool, store it in an airtight container. It will keep for a week to 10 days.
W
HEN SHE WAS A YOUNG WIDOW WITH THREE
children, my great-grandmother opened a Russian teahouse in Philadelphia's theater district. A family endeavor for nearly fifty years, it was long since closed by the time I was born. I grew up with the old menus, rich with blintzes, borscht, and buttered kasha with bowties. Thanks to this family history, I've long looked for ways to eat more kasha. This granola gives me a delicious way to do just that and I'm certain my great-grandmother would approve.
2 cups/170 g old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup/55 g sliced almonds
¾ cup/120 g toasted buckwheat groats (kasha)
¾ cup/85 g raw sunflower seeds
½ cup/60 g unsweetened dried flaked coconut
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ cup/60 ml sunflower oil (or other neutral oil)
½ cup/120 ml honey
½ cup/85 g raisins
Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C/gas 3.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, buckwheat, sunflower seeds, flaked coconut, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Toss it all together to combine.
Measure the sunflower oil in a large cup and swirl it around before adding it to the bowl. Using the same, unwashed cup, measure the honey and add it to the bowl. Stir everything together until evenly coated. Spread the mixture out on a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake until the granola is crisp and toasted, about 30 to 35 minutes, stirring 2 to 3 times during baking to ensure even browning.
Remove the granola from the oven. Gently stir in the raisins. If you want the granola to form clusters, mound the still-warm granola into the center of the baking sheet to cool. When the granola is completely cool store it in an airtight container. It will keep for a week to 10 days.
CINNAMON VANILLA SUNFLOWER BUTTER
F
ROM MY EARLIEST DAYS AS AN EATER, I'VE BEEN
a peanut butter lover. From kindergarten through third grade, I ate half a peanut butter-and-honey sandwich on whole wheat for lunch. My mother believed in the nutritional aspects of peanut butter and always spread a thick, protein-packed layer on every sandwich.
Despite the fact that peanut butter has always been a regular player in my diet, it took me until my thirties to realize that there was a world of nut butters beyond my beloved peanut. What's more, nearly all of them could be made at home in my sturdy, hand-me-down food processor.
In making batch after batch of nut butters, I've learned that the tastiest nut butters come from freshly roasted nuts, so all these recipes start with raw nuts and include a roasting step. It's best to make nut butters in fairly small batches, as the flavors are at their best within the first week. The yields on these recipes top out at 1½ cups/ (380 g) of butter. If you have a larger capacity food processor, you can double the recipes, but I strongly encourage you to make only as much butter as you and your family can eat in a week or two.
As you process the nuts, they will pass through several stages. First, they'll resemble chopped nuts. Then they'll transition to a cornmeal-like state. Last, just before they achieve butter consistency, the contents of the food processor will resemble a really dry paste. You might begin to despair that you'll never achieve a proper butter consistency. Fear not. Keep processing.
At times, the nascent butter will form a ball in the bowl of the food processor. Just stop the motor, use a wooden spatula (food processors are really hard on plastic and silicone implements) to break up the clusters and continue with the processing. If you're really struggling to achieve the right consistency, just add another drizzle of oil and keep on chugging.
Soon enough, you too will find yourself breezing past the expensive jars of exotic spreadable nut products in the grocery store, smug in the knowledge that the ones you make yourself are so much better a butter.
I
N THE WEEKS BEFORE I GOT MARRIED, I HANDLED
the wedding stress by buying and eating vast quantities of nut butters. It didn't do good things for the fit of my dress, but it made that very DIY day far more manageable from a stress perspective. It was during that period that I discovered a particularly magnificent line of sunflower butters made in Michigan. They're not sold in my area, so with shipping, each jar cost nearly $20. The version below does a bang-up job of satisfying my craving, while ringing up somewhere south of $5 for nearly the same volume of butter.
2 cups/225 g raw sunflower seeds
¼ cup/60 ml sunflower oil, divided
½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste, plus more as needed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more as needed
Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C/gas 3.
Spread the sunflower seeds out on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast in the oven until the sunflower seeds are fragrant and golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring the seeds at least twice during baking to ensure even roasting.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the sunflower seeds cool 10 minutes. When they're cool enough to handle, pour the toasted sunflower seeds into the bowl of a food processor. Add 1 tablespoon sunflower oil and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and begin to run the processor.
As the motor runs and the sunflower seeds break down, drizzle in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil.
Continue to process in 10- to 20-second intervals, stopping the motor and removing the lid after each to break up any clumps and scrape down the sides of the processor.
As the contents of the processor begin to look like butter, add the vanilla paste and
cinnamon to the bowl of the processor and pulse to incorporate. Taste after they're fully incorporated and add an additional pinch of cinnamon, vanilla, or salt if necessary.
Scrape the sunflower seed butter into a jar and store in the refrigerator. It will keep up to 1 month.