Hi! It's been a long week, let's make some granola. (And, unlike every cooking blog on the internet: recipe first, then backstory.)

Orange Molasses Granola

Not-too-sweet comfort food that makes your whole home smell amaaaaaazing.

1. Preheat your oven to 300˚ F / 149˚ C.
2. In a big bowl, whisk together "dry" ingredients:
   • 3 cups rolled oats
   • 1 cup shredded coconut
   • 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
   • 1/3 cup walnuts
   • 1/4 cup sesame seeds
3. In a 2-cup measuring pyrex (or smaller bowl), mix "wet" ingredients with a spoon:
   • zest and juice of one orange (seeded or navel)
   • 2 Tablespoons molasses
   • 3 Tablespoons honey
   • 1/2 cup olive oil
   • 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
   • 2 Tablespoons chia seed
   • 2 teaspoons vanilla
   • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
   • 1 teaspoon ginger
   • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 
   • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, using a silicone spatula to make sure you don't lose any. Combine the two until every oat is coated.
5. Spread on a parchment-paper-covered baking sheet so that it's about the thickness of a pinky.
6. Bake for 30 minutes total, with a stir in between.
   • Bake for the first 20 minutes, take it out, and flip the edges inward, breaking up the clumps. It's ok if it's messy and rough looking.
   • Bake for the final 10 minutes (with convection turned on if you have it) until golden brown (not burnt). You'll want the coconut to be brown but not black.
   • When it comes out, it should still be slightly damp but not wet. It'll crisp as it dries.
7. If you want to add up to a cup of dried fruit (e.g., raisins, or chopped apricots), stir it in while it's fresh from the oven.
8. Let it cool on the counter long enough to not burn your mouth, and then put it in an airtight jar or bag.

Notes:

• There are many secrets to "crisp" granola. We use coconut (in a one-to-three ratio with oats) and a healthy dose of oil to make things crisp but not break-a-tooth crunchy.
• This recipe is easily adaptable and forgiving!
  • Don't have measuring spoons? Guesstimate using small/big silverware spoons, keeping the ratios the same.
  • Don't like the nuts or seeds? Substitute with others in roughly the same amount or leave them out.
  • Don't have orange juice and zest? Substitute 3-4 Tablespoons applesauce or other fruit juice.
  • Want it sweeter? Increase the honey or add maple syrup.
  • Added too much honey or liquid? Cook for another 10-15 minutes, checking and stirring every five minutes or so to make sure it's not burnt.
• If the honey is too thick — maybe it's cold where you are? — heat the orange juice and molasses a bit before adding the honey. (Microwaving for 10-20 seconds can work.)

Variations:

• Peanut chocolate banana — substitute peanuts for the nuts, one overripe banana for the orange and molasses, and add a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder. Add a little more salt (up to 1 teaspoon total). Stir in chopped dates at the end.
• Apple pie — put a half-fistful of freeze-dried apples in a ziploc bag and mash until they're a fine powder. (A trick from Stella Parks.) Add that powder to three large tablespoons of applesauce (no orange or zest), 3 teaspoons cinnamon, optionally some nutmeg, allspice, and a few drops of lemon juice. Swap coarsely chopped cashews or walnuts instead of the sunflower and sesame seeds.

🖨️ Print or download this recipe

Why?

"You can make granola?" asked a friend when we offered to send her home from dinner with a jar of the latest batch. "Isn't that the thing you buy at the store?"

Well, yes. (And yes.) Perhaps you want to save money on overpriced store granola. Maybe you want to cut back on refined sugar, or add protein to make it better morning fuel. Or maybe you want to make it less crunchy than some storebought varieties to preserve your tender jaws.

Again and again and again and again.

About a year ago, while between jobs, I needed a project that involved anything but staring at a screen, so I went on a granola quest. I'd made homemade granola before (off-and-on since 2014), but as with past projects, it got ...somewhat obsessive.

THE GRAIN TRAIN IS LEAVIN' THE STATION, Y'ALL:
Let's learn about granola together! ✨

📚 We start with research. What do you like, what don't you like? Here are twelve(ish) years of scribbles.

Looking at recipes in bulk, you start to see all the variations in ingredients...

• sweeteners: fruit juice, honey, maple syrup, molasses, coconut sugar, brown sugar, sugar
• grains (or not): oatmeal, coconut, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia, nuts of all kinds
• binding agents: (several of the sticky sweeteners above, but also) buttermilk, milk powder, flaxseed meal, almond flour, egg white
• texture and mouthfeel: light, crispy, chunky, chewy, crunchy

...as well as similarities, too:

• cook temperature (300˚ F)
• cook time (30min, by and large)
• ratios of dry to wet ingredients (roughly 5:1 solid to liquid)

Tip: For storebought granolas, it's helpful to keep in mind that the ingredients list is in order of most to least. You can begin to roughly estimate how much of each is in your favorite brand, by comparing it to recipes in aggregate.

❤️‍🩹 Make granola, make mistakes, repeat. The recipe above is the result of at least six or seven attempts, tweaking ingredients each time. Iterating helps you learn what you like, too!

A selection of mistakes made:

• Added too little coconut, and not enough oil. The oats were soft, chewy, overwhelming and not crisp at all.
• Added too much juice; kind of the same result.
• Added uncooked quinoa grains. Even roasted as part of the granola, they were too hard, it was like tiny rocks in your molars.
• Used too much chia seed (a little like the quinoa), and didn't soak them in liquid ingredients to soften them.
• Added too much ginger; it drowned out everything and made it weirdly bitter.
• Added too much molasses in the honey/molasses ratio.
• Added too much salt (oops) and no salt (the sweetness had no ...body?).

And eventually, jotted in a text file on your phone, is

ok, this may be my favorite

— and it will still be a few iterations before the finalized recipe.

I didn't expect that granola yearnings would lead to granola learnings (and full-tilt recipe reverse-engineering, at that), but that is how rabbit holes go, no?

If you enjoy paeans to small joys, may I also recommend: Jez Burrows' Department of Enthusiasm, a casually occasional love letter to art that stirs feelings. Albums that have buoyed a long season. Expertly-crafted Kurosawa films. Even having never met Jez, he's introduced me to Joe Pera and AAESPO and and and and. So many recommendations have become oft-cited parts of our household canon.

His writing is consistently crisp, his music recommendations are both eclectic and reliably good, and the latest missive about a beloved Jimmy Stewart film — probably not the one you're thinking of — is a delightful arm-around-your-shoulder of a read.

I think you'd like it.