Granola Bar

There is something about mid-January that makes me crave granola. Might be that I have run out of Christmas cookies and I am lying to myself about the "health" aspects of this food choice when, in fact, I am feeding an addiction. There might be a better, healthier way to make the crunchy, oat part. I am just not interested in finding out. Because this recipe is my "favorite and my best" (bonus points if you can source the quote). Technically, it is not MY recipe. It is Alton Brown's. But since I only make the goo and add oats before baking, I'd like to claim at least a little input.

Here's the real recipe to start with.

And here is how I change it:

Toss the oats and brown sugar in a bowl.

Whisk the vegetable oil, salt and maple syrup in something else.

Consider a little cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamon.

But only if you really feel like it.

I should warn you, the syrup mixture is like salted caramel without the cooking. It is SO good. I may or may not pour a little extra of each ingredient in while making it just so I can drink some of it in a shot glass. I do wipe the measuring cup out with my hand and eat it like Winnie the Pooh. It is part of the experience.

Then I mix them both together and bake according to directions. I do! I follow the directions...for the cooking part of it, anyway. (No one who has seen my knitting will be surprised by the fact that I always change the directions!)

Now, look. I am not a real food blogger. Or a photographer. Yes, that is carbonized crud in my oven. If it bothers you terribly, please feel free to come over and clean it. But this is what it will look like when it is done. It will smell good long before it is ready to come out. Resist the urge to yank it early. Wait until the mush is browning, stir it around a little if your oven bakes things unevenly due to age, faulty thermometer, or carbonized crud. The little rolled oats will curl up when they are done.

Then you let it mostly cool. I live in reality here, folks. I already waited for it to bake to a crisp. I can't possibly be expected to wait for "cool completely."

And then the fun part!

You pick all of your favorite things to have on hand to put in with the granola. It does not matter if they go together as a whole! Because each bowl you make will be custom blended. AND each ingredient will be at its personal best for every serving. I hate few things more than I hate cooked raisins but plump, soft raisins are wonderful. (Putting raisins in the oven the whole time with the oats will give you tough, burned, teeth-cracking, putrid lumps that you have to eat around while still suffering the taste in your mouth--due to flavor osmosis--and it will need to be burned away with Listerine.) The empty section may have contained white chocolate chips at some point but that was long before my kids dug in.

And, yes, that bowl is dirty. But only just. And only because I ate a bowl of it mostly cooled with dried mango and macadamia nuts before I took the picture.

This works well when you have house guests. Have some yogurt and milk in the fridge and they can fix themselves a bowl when they'd like in the morning. Or as a late snack over ice cream. Or even breakfast over ice cream. Hell, you might be playing host but it's their vacation! Let them live a little!