Simply Mindblowing Coconut Maple Granola

Can I just say that this granola is insane? Insane as in amazingly good, beyond words, but I'm going to try to describe it for you anyway. It's bursting with coconut goodness, it's a bit sweet yet salty, the granola is fluffy but crisp, and it's probably the best granola I've ever had, definitely the best one I've ever made. The components are all super simple and it doesn't sound all that special, but there's just something about coconut oil that brings this granola over the top. Do yourself a favor and make this granola.

The recipe is slightly adapted from Tracy of Shutterbean, so you know it's going to be good with all her granola making experience. This is a loose unclustered granola that really would be perfect in anything. Granola is just so easy to make and so much better when you can make it that there's just no reason to buy it. I've become just a bit obsessed with homemade granola these days and I'll continue to try other ones, but I'm sure that I will be dreaming of this one and coming back to it time and time again.

Coconut Maple Granola
Adapted from Shutterbean
Makes about 6 cups

3 cups rolled oats, not quick-cooking
3/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
3/4 cup raw almonds, or mix in roasted almonds at the end
4 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 tsp fine salt

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, almonds, flaxseed meal, brown sugar, and salt.

Add in the melted coconut oil and maple syrup and stir well to combine. When everything has been mixed thoroughly, pour the mixture onto a lined baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 min, stirring every 10-15 min until the granola is lightly golden brown.

Let the granola cool completely before storing in an airtight container. It will last for up to several weeks at room temp.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Fall is one of my favorite times of year because it's when I tend to make more spiced and pumpkin filled desserts. I love the fruit in the spring and summer, but some of my favorite desserts are traditional fall treats like pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, apple pie, can you tell I'm a pie lover? I guess I could make these things year round, but I usually only make them to bring to a family gathering or when I have someone to share them with. I'm still on the hunt for a smaller pie plate, a 7 inch one would be perfect.

Anyway, to bring some of that fall flavor to my morning breakfast, I decided to make some pumpkin spice granola. I really can't believe that I was ever afraid of making granola after that one time that it didn't work out. Whenever recipes flop now, I just move on to another one or rethink it if it seems salvageable. Back to the topic at hand, granola is super easy to make, endlessly customizable, and it's great as a breakfast cereal, over yogurt, or for a snack. This one from Sally's Baking Addiction is very lightly sweetened, so much so that I've added just a touch more sugar in the recipe and because I love spice, I've also bumped that up just a bit. The sweetness could also depend on your maple syrup, though, so adjust as needed. Pumpkin is not a super strong flavor and there isn't a lot of it here, so mostly what you get is the pumpkin pie spice. I love the way this granola forms large clusters due to the egg whites, but you could certainly leave it out.

Pumpkin Spice Granola
Recipe slightly adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
Makes about 6 cups

3 3/4 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
2/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 large pinches of salt
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
5 tbsp brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of dried cranberries, cherries, currants, etc.

Preheat oven to 325 deg F. In a large bowl, mix the rolled oats, coconut, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, salt, and spices together.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites for a minute or two to break them up. Mix in the coconut oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and the pumpkin puree. Add the wet mixture to the dry and thoroughly coat the oat mixture with the wet ingredients.

Divide the granola between two lined baking sheets and bake for 40 min until the granola is golden brown, stirring the granola every 10-15 min and rotating the baking sheets halfway.  Let the granola cool completely on the baking sheets. Mix in the dried fruit. Store in an airtight container for up to a few weeks.

Honey Nut Gran-ola

 

The other day, my sister said that she wanted some gran-ola, specifically some honey nut gran-ola. She loves confusing people by coming up with her own pronunciations of words. Anyway, I've been thinking of making granola recently anyway since it's so simple, quick, and it's the perfect accompaniment to my morning yogurt. It's also great on its own with milk as a breakfast cereal.

For this recipe, I kept it super simple with just almonds, oats, honey, olive oil, and some flaxseed meal. The honey flavor really comes through, which I like, but you could also substitute the honey for your sweetener of choice and use less of it if it's too sweet for your liking. The mix of things in this granola is also up to you though I do recommend adding any dried fruit at the end so it doesn't burn. Chia seeds, other nuts, spices, etc. would be great in this.

Honey Nut Granola
Makes about 5 cups of granola

3 cups rolled oats
2 cups almonds, whole, chopped, or sliced
4 tbsp. flaxseed meal
Large pinch of salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 340 deg F. Mix the oats, almonds, flaxseed meal, and salt together in a large bowl.

In a small pot over medium low heat, heat up the honey and olive oil just until the mixture is well combined and easily pourable. Pour the honey mixture into the oat mixture and stir well to coat everything evenly. Spread the mixture over a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, giving the granola a stir halfway through.

Once the granola is golden, take it out and let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. It will harden and crisp up as it cools. Granola will last at room temp for a few weeks.

The Ever Versatile Quiche

 

 

I may not be someone who hosts a lot of brunches, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate and enjoy a good quiche, a classic brunch staple. Quiche is one of those dishes that most people love, but don't make very often for some reason. It's actually super easy to put together and can serve a crowd easily. It can also be filled with whatever you like, so you could make several for your next get-together and please vegetarians and meat eaters alike. The basic recipe is the same, but the varieties are endless. Recently, I made a ham, cheese, potato quiche and a blue cheese, caramelized onion, spinach, mushroom quiche. Cheddar, fresh corn, and roasted tomatoes is also amazing when corn is in season. You want your fillings to not be too wet and mostly cooked, but not overcooked. You can also add a variety of different herbs and spices.

The recipe seems to be the go-to one from Marthastewart.com and the custard filling holds up nicely. I've also made wonderful mini quiches from another Martha Stewart recipe that has an even lighter and softer custard. That one works better in mini form and takes a bit more work. I'll show those in a later post. For this larger version, you can assemble the quiche in whatever pan you like. You can use a quiche pan, a springform pan, or a pie pan as I've done here. If you are making a deeper quiche, you can just scale up the recipe and bake it a bit longer.

Quiche
Recipe from MarthaStewart.com
Makes one 9 inch quiche

Pie Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp fine salt, double the amount of kosher salt
1/8-1/4 cup iced water

Pulse the butter, sugar, salt, and flour in a food processor until the butter is the size of peas. Gradually add just enough iced water as the processor is running until the dough just holds together when squeezed in the palm of your hand. Dump out onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a round disk. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days or freeze up to a month.

When ready to use, roll out the pie dough to a round big enough with overhang for a 9 inch pie plate. Fit into the pie plate, fold the overhang under, crimp, dock with a fork, then freeze for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 deg F. Line the pie crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 30-35 minutes removing the parchment and pie weights halfway through so that the crust can begin to brown. Remove when the crust starts to color nicely. Set aside while you prepare the filling.

Reduce the oven to 350 deg F.

Filling
6 large eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
About 2 cups meat/veggies/cheese of your choice, partially cooked
Salt and pepper, to taste

Whisk the eggs and heavy cream together in a large measuring cup. Season with salt and pepper depending on the saltiness of your add ins.

Layer your cooked meat, veggies, and cheese into the prebaked pie crust. Pour the egg mixture over the top and use a fork to help distribute the egg mixture throughout. Bake at 350 deg. F for 30-35 minutes until the custard is just set. Let cool slightly before serving.

Quiche may be eaten warm or at room temp. Store in the refrigerator, well wrapped, for up to several days. Reheat at 325 deg. F for about 15 minutes.

Where have you been all my life!? Banana Nut Granola

I'm typing this after enjoying a bowl of yogurt topped with this delicious granola. I believe this is only the second time I've ever made granola although I've eaten it plenty of times. I think the reason I don't really make granola is because I don't really eat it consistently. (The first time I made granola also didn't turn out well, so I was still dealing with some trauma from that.) I'll have it once in a while on yogurt, but that's about it, so I imagined it would be tough to get through a batch of homemade granola. There's also so many kinds of granola for sale that I tend to end up picking up a bag from the store when I do want some.

For the past few months though, I've been going through one tub of yogurt after another, so I figured the granola would at least have someplace to end up. I've also been finding it difficult to find the perfect granola since I don't want anything too sweet, artificially flavored, not crunchy enough, or with too much dried fruit. The last package of store bought granola I got was terrible, so I decided to give homemade granola another go. After seeing the many delicious granola recipes on Shutterbean and reading about Tracy's love of homemade granola, I settled on the banana walnut granola since I happened to have some overripe bananas again and I'm a fan of banana flavored things in general, if you can't already tell.

Boy, have I been missing out! This granola is exactly what I wanted, loose, not overly large oat clusters, not overly sweet, crunchtastic, and made to my own specifications. I didn't have any banana chips on hand when I made this, but I mixed some in to the finished granola afterwards. I overbaked the granola a tiny bit because I was worried about the bananas affecting the crunchiness of the oats, but it still turned out fantastic. Next time, I won't worry about mashing the bananas completely smooth so the mixture isn't as wet. If you happen to have toasted nuts or coconut on hand already, just add them in towards the end of the baking time instead of mixing them with the oats. This granola is also super versatile, so substitute or add whatever you like, add dried fruit towards the end so it doesn't burn.

Banana Nut Granola
Adapted from Shutterbean
Makes about 7 cups of granola

5 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped
4 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/8 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 medium-large very ripe bananas
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup olive oil
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut, flaked or shredded, sweetened or unsweetened
1 1/2 cups banana chips

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Mix together the oats, nuts, flaxseed meal, and brown sugar in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mash the bananas. Mix in the maple syrup, olive oil, salt, and vanilla extract until well blended.

Pour the wet ingredients into the oat mixture and mix until the oats are all nicely coated. Spread the mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until nicely golden. With about 20 minutes left to go, mix in the coconut.

After baking, mix in the banana chips, if using, and let the granola cool on the baking sheet. It will become much crunchier after it cools. Transfer to an airtight container and enjoy as is, with milk, or  over yogurt.

Blueberry Pancakes

I have to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of pancakes. For those of you who love pancakes, this probably makes no sense. I do enjoy a nice fluffy pancake now and then, but until now, I haven't found a recipe that produces results as good as those you'd find in a restaurant. This recipe for pancakes from America's Test Kitchen is darn good, even for an occasional pancake-eater like myself.

I've found that buttermilk is crucial, for me anyways, in producing a tender pancake. Although the recipe suggests using milk and lemon juice if you don't have buttermilk, it doesn't produce the same exact results in my experience. The basic recipe here can be varied in many ways by adding nuts, other fruits, and spices to the batter. It can also be drizzled with chocolate sauce, coconut syrup, honey, etc. rather than the more traditional maple syrup. The picture here isn't as pretty as the original pic, but it's just as delicious.

Blueberry Pancakes
Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

2 cups buttermilk
2 cups(10 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted/cooled
vegetable oil for pan
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, rinsed/dried

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Whisk the egg and butter into the buttermilk. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Do not overmix.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add a tsp of the oil to the pan and swirl to coat the pan. Drop 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan for each pancake, sprinkle blueberries over the top of each. Cook until large bubbles form, then flip the pancake and cook until golden brown.

Note: If you don't have buttermilk, you can use 2 cups of whole milk mixed with 1 tbsp of lemon juice as the original recipe suggests. However, I've never really found that this substitute gives you exactly the same results, so I would recommend buttermilk if possible.