Monday, February 4, 2013

Granola....mmmmm good!



I am always looking for new and unique granola recipes. In November, dear hubby and I were on the road when I opened up an email on my phone from Relish Magazine. As I looked through the message, I found a link that looked interesting, and it took me to a web page were I saw the most amazing looking granola! Unfortunately, I didn't save it and when I returned home, I couldn't find that link again. I searched for hours, googling, trying everything to find that recipe.
 

Finally, after many attempts to find it and lots of frustration from not being able to find that specific recipe, I got an idea. I put an actual thought together and sent a message to Relish Magazine, asking about a link to a granola recipe that I had seen on an email from them. The editorial department responded within an hour and sent me the following message:
 
Oh goodness Connie! We have many granola recipes on file so tracking down
the exact one may be a bit of a challenge, but I'll try my very best! Was
it any of the following?

http://foodonfifth.com/2012/02/19/e-a-t-easy-as-that-granola/
http://relish.com/recipes/camp-beckwith-granola/
http://blogs.relish.com/sweetly-spiced-roasted-pumpkin-seed-raisin-snack-mi
x/
http://relish.com/recipes/jills-granola/
http://relish.com/recipes/cinnamon-granola-bars/
http://relish.com/recipes/peanut-butter-granola-clusters/
http://relish.com/recipes/yogurt-and-fruit-parfaits-with-maple-granola/' 

How amazing is the editorial department at Relish Magazine!!!! The recipe I had been searching for was the very first one! You can check it out right here. I was so happy!! And in addition, you can see they also sent me several other amazing granola recipes that I look forward to trying very soon, and I decided to share them with you too! I went out and bought the ingredients I was missing and made that amazing looking, much sought-after granola. It was well worth all the effort! Even my dear hubby scoops a bit out in the morning to enjoy as an afternoon pick-me-up. 

Inside our granola jar

The aroma that came out of my oven was amazing! I kept the oven light on so that I could peek in every so often. Oh my, it was a beautiful thing as they went from moist looking pieces to shiny, glazed pieces of crunch! Of course, I made a change to the recipe, and yes, I added vanilla! A whole tablespoon! The smell of the vanilla and orange marmalade layered on top of the aroma of the toasty nuts was amazing. I wanted to open my doors and windows to share the smells with my neighbors. I decided not to because it was below freezing outside and the neighbors were snugly warm in their air-tight houses!

There was one big disappointment. The next morning I headed downstairs and went straight for the oven where the granola had spent the night. As I stirred it around with a spatula, I could see that the granola in the center of the pan was stuck to the pan! I was really disappointed but scraped it off anyway. As you can see from the pictures, some of the scraping made dents and bumps on the nuts.  I didn't want to loose a crumb. From now on, I will bake this granola on a sheet of parchment paper. Problem solved. Other than that issue, every piece was perfectly separated and ready for crunching.

Another look inside our granola jar
This recipe is very easy to make and it yields lots of granola. You will do the happy dance if you make this granola. Just saying!

Enjoy!