goodness from the kitchen

On my recent trip, I got to spend a couple days with my wonderful friend Clare, who lives on Big Table Farm in Oregon.

She and her hubby Brian are serious foodies, and I always eat well when I’m with them.

This time, I was bowled over by their homemade granola, which Brian adapted from a Mother Earth News recipe. It has become at staple at Big Table Farm, and for good reason.

After watching Clare prepare it (and begging for the recipe) I adapted it further (added a few tweaks of my own) and cranked out a batch tonight.

As chance would have it, Clare called when I was making it and she was making it too!! So we decided to document our respective cooking sessions and post the results. To see her version (with more entertaining photos, I must say, click here.) Fun fun.

If I do say so myself, it is scrumptious.

Here’s how I make it:

Highly-Derivative and Soon-To-Be-Famous Homemade Granola

Dry ingredients:

2 ½ Cup Rolled Oats
½ Cup Wheat Germ
¼ Cup Sesame Seeds
½ Cup Slivered Almonds
½ Cup Shredded Coconut
¼ Cup Flax Seed
½ Cup Raw Sunflower Seeds
1 Cup Raisins and/or other dried fruits

Wet ingredients:

4 Tbsp. Butter
¼ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
½ Cup Honey
½ Cup Molasses
½ Cup Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp. Dried Orange Peel
2 teas. Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.


Spread the dry ingredients, except the raisins, evenly on a 9” x 12” baking sheet. Bake for 20–30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (This is what mine looked like when I took it out after about 25 minutes - lightly toasted. Bake longer for really crispy granola.)



Meanwhile, heat the wet ingredients, except the vanilla extract, in a small saucepan, allowing the mixture to simmer until the dry ingredients are ready to come out of the oven.




Remove the oat mixture from the oven (leave the oven on), add the raisins or other dried fruit, stir well. Remove the honey/molasses mixture from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract, then pour the hot liquid over the oat mixture and stir until all the dry ingredients are well coated.



Press the granola firmly into the bottom of a greased 8” x 8” pan, and place in the still-warm oven to bake for 20 minutes. (An 8x8 pan makes bars about 1 inch thick - for thinner bars, use a larger pan.)



Remove the granola from the oven, and immediately score it (make indentations where you will break it apart into bars when it is cool) while it is still hot.

Once the granola is completely cool, remove from pan, break into pieces, and store in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!!