The Practical Hitty Newsletter
Editors: Hitty Henrietta and Charlotte Hitty

Good, Plain Cooking from Mrs. Plum's Kitchen

Granola--it's not just for Hippies anymore! Mrs. Plum presents her healthy, delicious Granola Cereal/Snack recipe.

INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients:
10 cups Old-fashioned Oatmeal
1 cup Wheat-germ
1/2 pound Shredded Coconut
1 cup chopped Walnuts
1 cup chopped Almonds
1 cup chopped Cashews (or any combination of three cups of nuts)
1 cup raisins

Syrup:
1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
1 1/2 cups Water
1 1/2 cups Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Molasses

When the Granola has been cooked and is very cool, add any of the following:
chopped dates or any dried fruits (banana chips, dried mango, etc.)
1 cup Chocolate chips OR
1 cup Peanut Butter chips


Preheat oven to 300°. In a really big bowl (trust me on this one) mix all of the dry ingredients. Set this aside for the moment. Get a medium sized saucepan, and put all of the Syrup ingredients in it. Stir them over a high flame until the sugar is dissolved, but do not let this boil. It doesn't even have to be real hot, just as long as the sugar is dissolved. Pour this mixture over the big bowl of dry ingredients. Stir really good to coat all of the dry ingredients. Now, I've found this is not an easy thing, but do not add any more wet stuff to the bowl, because it really will saturate all of the dry ingredients after a while.

Get you two big glass pans (I use the 13" x 9" pans) and put a layer about 1" deep on the mixture in each pan. Put it in the oven. Set your timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, pull out, stir, and put back in the oven. Set the timer for 10 more minutes. Repeat the stirring. Set your timer for another 5 minutes. When the beeper goes off, take the granola from the oven, and put it in a large bowl or maybe another pan to cool. You don't want to add any of the extra ingredients until it is cool to the touch. Repeat these steps until you have cooked all of the granola.

This is very good as a cereal, and can be used as a topping for ice cream. It is also excellent in cookie recipes. The girls here like to come into the kitchen and get a baggie of it at night, and eat it while they study. Of course, adding those chocolate chips may not be real healthy, but it's a pretty small amount for such a large amount of granola. It's ok to let the girls think they are having something sweet and cookie-ish.

 

All images and text copyright 2002-3 Julie DeGroat, Sara Cole, or their respective artists
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