Butterfly Jungle: Granola Brittle

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Granola Brittle

OK, I have to say that the first time I saw Granola Brittle in the grocery store I was a little confused. Not only did it come in one of those plain plastic containers, vaguely like the suet containers, it seemed to have a good bit of what I swear was millet.

So even though I bought some to try, I thought it might actually be intended for feeding birds. Especially after I ate some. It was OK but the syrup that all the good wholesome grainy things were in had a funny metal tang to it. But I liked the idea since I'm sort of, as a co-worker describes me, "granola" and thought I would play around a bit. I found a few recipes on the Internet so I mish-mashed them all together and came up with what I think is a pretty good version. This is basically granola in a sweet matrix so it sticks together and you can take it with you out the door in the morning if you're running late. That never happens to me, of course. wink wink

Let's try it.

You will need:

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1/3 cup unsalted roasted sunflower seeds

1- 8.7 oz jar sesame seeds (it's just over 1/3 cup)

1/3 cup flaxseed, whole

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Oven temp for this will be 350 F and your rack should be in the middle of the oven.

Line a large cookie sheet (the kind with the edges, not the flat kind) with aluminum foil and spray lightly with vegetable oil spray.

In a saucepan, heat the honey, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla over a gentle low heat. I let it just start to threaten to come to a boil

In a big bowl mix together the oats, walnuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flaxseed, and almonds.

Add the warm honey mixture and stir it well so everything is evenly mixed together.

Spread the mixture out on the cookie sheet so it's nice and even and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.

No, I haven't cleaned my oven this winter. Hope it doesn't offend.

Let the granola cool fairly well but a touch warm is OK too.

Turn the brittle out onto a cutting board or even the counter so it falls out of the pan. At this point you should have one big honkin' piece of brittle.

Carefully peel the foil off of the brittle. Break the brittle into chunks. If the brittle is still a bit warm you can sort of fold or tear it apart. If it's completely cool you'll need to wail on it with a big ladle or something similar.

This is the back side.

Let the brittle cool completely and then store in an airtight container. I don't know how long this will keep since it usually disappears pretty quickly at our house. It is excellent when served with Greek yogurt. When you get to the bottom of the container and there's nothing left but a pile of crumbs--- oh baby, stir that into some yogurt. Mmmm.