Almond-orange granola
Almond-orange granola. Looks nice, doesn't it?
One of the reasons that I fight the feisty, aging hippie crowds at the Berkeley Bowl on a weekly basis is the granola. The number of varieties is stunning. Strawberry hemp, cranberry orange, vanilla macaroon, maple ginger pecan… they’re all good. (And I’ve tried most of them.) But a few weeks ago, a friend came to stay with us and as a thank you, he brought with him a jar of homemade granola that he had carefully wrapped in clothes at the bottom of his suitcase. It was delicious and it made me wonder why I’ve been such a slave to one grocery store’s idea of the best granola combinations. I would design my own.
… or I would at least try one of Bittman’s combinations first and then be more adventurous. I decided on almond-orange. Key ingredients: almond paste, almonds, orange zest, golden raisins, dried cherries.
So my first mishap occurred when I starting charring the oatmeal. I had it in a roasting pan on top of two burners and after just a few moments of inattention, my granola started to turn black. Second mishap: 1/2 cup of almond paste. Third mishap: In an attempt to make my granola full of nice, big clusters of oats, I tried mashing the oats together with almond paste the same way you would say, mix butter together with oatmeal and flour to make the topping for a fruit crisp. I didn’t realize how big a mistake this was until the next morning when I proudly poured myself a bowl of my homemade granola. Almond paste doesn’t melt the way butter does. It stays together like big hunks of sugary wax and sinking my teeth into the super sweet paste at 7:30 in the morning was enough to make me feel ill until lunchtime. Fourth mishap: I made 6 cups of this stuff.
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