Cooking Lesson #989: Munchin’ Cinnamon Granola

…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? Are you a crunchy snack eater? I certainly am. I really don’t enjoy granola as a milk-soaked breakfast food. What I do like is munching on granola clumps while watching TV. It’s the combination of a not too sweet crunchy bite (lots of texture) that’s also a seemingly healthy snack food… the latter being a misnomer—it might not be that healthy at all. If you are like me, I have the perfect recipe for you. But first a little history.
 
With good intentions, Granola was invented in 1863 in Dansville, New York by Dr. James Caleb Jackson at the Jackson Sanitarium, a prominent health spa that operated into the early 20th century on the hillside overlooking Dansville. And then it all (both Jackson Sanitarium and granola) kind of disappeared.
 
The food and name were revived in the 1960s and fruits and nuts were added to it to make it more of a health food that was popular with the health and nature-oriented “hippie” movement. At the time, several people claim to have revived or re-invented granola. During Woodstock, a soon-to-be hippie icon known as Wavy Gravy, popularized granola as a means of feeding large numbers of people during the festival. Another major promoter was Layton Gentry, profiled in Time magazine as "Johnny Granola-Seed."
 
In 1964, Gentry sold the rights to a granola recipe using oats, which he claimed to have invented himself, to Sovex Natural Foods for $3,000. From there it was sold to a number of different companies. Here’s where it gets interesting.
 
In 1972, an executive at Pet Incorporated of St. Louis, Missouri, introduced Heartland Natural Cereal, the first major commercial granola. At almost the same time, the Quaker Oats Company introduced Quaker 100% Natural Granola. Quaker was threatened with legal action by Gentry, and they subsequently changed the name of their product to Harvest Crunch. Within a year, Kellogg's had introduced its "Country Morning" granola cereal and General Mills had introduced its "Nature Valley".
 
And then, there were granola bars. Granola bars have become popular as a snack. Granola bars consist of many of the same ingredients—with just a little more of the sticky stuff. Mix granola with honey or other sweetened syrup, pressed and baked into a bar shape, resulting in the production of a more convenient snack. Granola bars are the perfect individually packaged snack easy to carry in a purse, backpack or other bag for munchin’ later alligator (ode to the hippies). While passed off as a health food, they're basically cookies masquerading as healthy alternative to cookies.
 
And now here is my perfect clumpy granola snack recipe that may be a little healthier than a chocolate covered commercial granola bar.
 
Prep time:  20 minutes
Bake time:  20 to 30 minutes
Yield:  2-1/4 pounds+
 
Ingredients 
2 cups old fashioned oats
1-1/2 cups almonds, roasted or toasted, roughly chopped
1-1/2 cups sunflower seeds, hulled
1 cup unsweetened coconut, wide slice shredded
1/4 cup sesame seeds, white, hulled
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
2-1/2 tablespoons whole cane sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Optional: Add 1/2 cup raisins
 
Directions

1. Preheat your convection oven to 300°F (325°F if a conventional oven). Measure out all the ingredients and have at hand.
2. Combine oats, chopped almonds, sunflower seeds, unsweetened coconut, sesame seeds and wheat germ in a large bowl.
3. Combine honey, oil, whole cane sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan bringing it just to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar completely and fully incorporate the oil. Do not burn the sugar!
4. Mix wet ingredients into the oat mixture; coat the dry ingredients well. (See ChefSecret below)
5. Spread mixture onto sheet pans in a single layer to ensure the greatest exposure to the heat.
6. Bake in a convection oven at 300°F (325°F if a conventional oven) for about 10-15 minutes; check the color and dryness of the mixture.  Coconut should be browning but not burning.  If ready, use a large spatula (to minimize breaking the clumps apart) and turn the layer over to expose the underside of the mixture and bake for another 10-15 minutes.  The granola should be toasted brown in color (not burnt) and dry.
7. Let the mixture cool completely before packing or storing.  If bagged too soon, the granola will become soggy and lose crunchy texture.

ChefSecret:  It’s best to divide the dry ingredients into two bowls and coat each one with half the wet mixture; then recombine all ingredients together to ensure thorough coverage.

Quip of the Day:  Why did the granola switch to a low-fat diet? It wanted to be a ‘cereal’ killer!
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.
 
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