Dahlia Bakery Granola
This granola recipe from The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook is sweeter and more flavorful than any I've made before, for a couple of reasons. First, the addition of orange juice adds a nice citrus-y sweetness; but the orange juice also provides added moisture to the oat mixture which results in it forming better clumps than other granolas I've made. Cooking it a bit longer at a lower temperature may have helped in that regard too Another factor may have been that the dried fruits were not added until after the granola was baked; the fruit was more moist and chewy and added a superb contrast in texture to the crunchy grains.
Ingredients
- •3 cups rolled oats
- •½ cup steel-cut oats
- •½ cup shredded coconut
- •½ cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
- •¼ cup sunflower seeds
- •½ cup honey
- •¼ cup packed brown sugar
- •¼ cup pure maple syrup
- •¼ cup canola oil
- •¼ cup orange juice
- •¼ cup sugar
- •1 tsp. cinnamon
- •1 tsp. vanilla
- •1 cup diced dried apricots
- •½ cup dried cherries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Remove hazelnuts from oven, wrap in a kitchen towels, and rub the nuts together until most of the papery skins have fallen off. Chop hazelnuts and set aside.
- Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
- Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.
- Combine the oats, steel-cut oats, coconut, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the apricots and cherries, and whisk together until well combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix well with a rubber spatula.
- Divide the granola between the two baking pans, spreading evenly. Bake until golden brown, 50-60 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes so that it browns evenly.
- Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the granola cool. The granola will still seem wet coming out of the oven, but it will crisp as it cools.
- When it is completely cool, transfer granola to a large clean bowl and stir in the dried fruit. Store in airtight bags or jars. Serve over plain or vanilla yogurt. Or milk. Or just eat it out of the bag.
