Sesame Honey Granola

Let me first explain the circumstances that led up to this post.

Everyone gets food cravings. Right? I don't know about the rest of you, but when I have a food craving, it is usually for something that's most definitely not good for me. Like chocolate ice cream with a chewy fudge sauce. Or fudge. Or bacon. Or brownies. Or a spoonful (or three) of caramel sauce. Today, I got a craving for something healthy. That felt weird. I really, really wanted granola. And we didn't have any. I have seen several wonderful granola posts out there, and so I was inspired to make my own. I worked with whatever was available in my humble kitchen, and this is what came from that very successful experiment.

I have shared breakfast recipes before - my Never-Fail Pancakes Recipe, and my Oatmeal Streusel Banana Muffins to mention a few. But one thing I have not mentioned on my blog, is that though I love breakfast foods, and I love sitting down to breakfast, it is also the busiest time of the day for me. And so, I rarely find the time to eat a proper breakfast. All I usually eat before I get to lunch is a couple of crackers, or a cup of tea or some juice. Some days, if I am particularly hungry, I wolf something down while feeding my daughter her breakfast. This is not something I would recommend. I know that breakfast is the most important meal, and this yummy granola is hopefully my first step towards a healthy change.Yay, me!

After reading some of the fabulous granola recipes out there, I noticed that all I need to do is use a couple of basic ingredients, and experiment with the rest. And so I did. I must say that my favorite part of this granola was the sesame seeds. Oh my goodness! SO good, and SO good for health too! The walnuts were pretty yummy too. I named this granola 'Sesame Honey Granola', because those were the most prominent flavors.

One major change was the cooking time and temperature. I decide to start this project too close to breakfast time and so I didn't have the luxury of a 45 minute baking time. The proper way to bake this seems to be at 160-170 for 35-45 minutes. I baked it at 200 for 20 minutes. I just checked on it periodically, and it turned out just fine. If you want to be safer, you should go with the lower temperature.

Here is how I made my granola.

Sesame Honey Granola
Ingredients
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped to small chunks
3/4 cup cornflakes
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp salt
a pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried dates

Method
1. In a large bowl, mix the oatmeal, sesame seeds and walnuts.
2. Add the cornflakes to this bowl. If the flakes are very large, crush the cornflakes in your hands as you add it into the bowl. You don't want it to powder, but you want it in smaller pieces.
3. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg ands salt and mix all these ingredients together.
4. In a small bowl, stir together the honey and the melted butter.
5. Pour in the honey-butter mixture, and stir well until all the dry ingredients are coated with the honey and butter.
6. Into the bowl that had the honey-butter mixture, add all the dried fruit, and just stir them together until they are lightly coated with whatever little honey-butter is still in the bowl. Set this aside.
7. Spread the granola out on a slightly greased baking tray. Make sure you spread it out evenly.
8. Bake until golden brown, stirring up the granola occasionally. I used a serving fork to stir it. Keep checking so that it doesn't over-brown or worse, burn.
9. When it reaches the desired color, turn off the oven. Then, take the tray out, add the dried fruits, and stir into the granola. Put the tray back in the oven for a further 3-4 minutes. The oven is still turned off.
10. Remove the tray from the oven, and let the granola cool, stirring occasionally even during the cooling time. When cool, break up with a fork and transfer to an airtight jar.

This is great with hot milk (my husband always eats his cereal with hot milk), or with cold milk (the way I like it). It also tastes fantastic just eaten dry, by the handful, straight from the jar.

Now, that I have given you a fantastically delicious and healthy recipe, watch out for my next post. I want to share with you my recipe (and honest opinion), of a dish I made for a Bacon-fest party at our home last week. Sounds wicked, doesn't it? It was an incredibly delicious pot-luck meal. I will post the recipe later this week.

UPDATE - Two new things to report. 1. On the days I eat breakfast, I normally feel very hungry within a couple of hours. But today, I did not feel hungry till it was well past lunch time. That's a very, very good thing in my book, because otherwise I end up snacking on stuff that's not so good for me.

2. I just had this granola with a small bit of ice cream for dessert. OH MY! It was super delicious! I feel healthier already... :)

Technorati Tags: Sesame, Honey, Granola, Homemade, Recipe