General principles for making granola

Firstly, I will suggest investing in an oven timer. The one email you will want to write while baking your granola will invariably take longer than you initially imagine. Perhaps your oven has a timer built in. Good.

Also, you will generally be making granola in the morning because the morning is when you will be hungry for breakfast, and it is at this sort of time that making granola will be appealing to you. This same morning time, you will most likely also want to take a shower. The short baking time for granola will seem like an attractive time to do so. Resist this temptation! It will almost always result in granola closer to burnt that you would like. Oven timer not withstanding.

Prior to making granola, you will want to have skimmed all of the principles of making granola. You will also want to have intimate familiarity with the location of even the most obscure ingredients in your kitchen. Otherwise, the time you spend searching your cabinets for the various and sundry will cause the sugars in your pot to crystallize, and you will have made brittle instead of granola.

On to making granola.

Preparation. You will take out a pot, a nice heavy sort of pot that holds slightly more than the volume of granola you intend to make. A two litre pot works nicely, and you will set this pot on the stove.

You will also heat the oven to 350º F.

Fat. You will assess the availability of various fats in your kitchen. Butter and canola oil work well. I use a combination of the two. You may also be interested in such luxury oils as walnut oil. Or almond oil. Or pumpkin seed oil. Or coconut oil. All good ideas. Put some fat in your pot. To start, I suggest about half a stick of butter and a few tablespoons of oil. Turn the heat on low to melt your fats.

Sugar. You will assess the availability of various sweet substances in your kitchen. Take them all out from the cabinet and line them up on your counter. You will use them all: brown sugar, white sugar, honey. Under no circumstances will you use high fructose corn syrup, unless those circumstances are very desperate indeed. Maple syrup works well in granola, if the flavour suits your aesthetic. You may experiment with molasses, if you wish, though I have not done so myself and cannot take responsibility for its effect on flavor, whether desirable or no. The sugar will hold your granola together, making the sort of clumps you enjoy. Put a healthy amount of sugar in your pot. If you dislike overly sweet cereals as I do, a healthy amount of sweetness will be a nice pour of honey, a few handfuls of brown sugar and a pour of white sugar roughly equivalent to a quarter cup. Allow this to dissolve in your heated fats. You will likely want to stir it. I recommend using a wooden spoon.

Oats, grains and seeds. You will assess the availability of various oats, grains and seeds in your kitchen. Take them all out from the cabinet and refrigerator and line them up on your counter. You will use them all: rolled oats, wheat germ, flax seeds, wheat bran, &c. Having decided to become the sort of person who makes his or her own granola, you will have taken care always to have a large quantity of rolled oats on hand. These will be essential now. But first, pour your grains and seeds into the pot of sweetened melted fats. You may wish to use anywhere from a sprinkle to a few tablespoons of each. Pour a generous amount of rolled oats into your pot, filling your pot almost up. A generous amount is roughly equivalent to three cups. Use your discretion. Stir the granola, making sure that your oats are coated in sugar and fat.

Flavourings. Take a moment to give some thought to your intended theme for this morning's granola. This will inform the sorts of flavourings you add. You will also want to consider the availability of the nuts and dried fruits you will be adding later. Exciting things I have added at this step include: sea salt, vanilla extract, almond extract, rose water, orange blossom water, cinnamon, cardomom, &c. Imagine the flavor of the spices and essence you intend to add. If the combination tastes good in your mind, add them to the pot. I use a few generous shakes of spices and a good pour or so of essences, such that I can smell them. Salt is almost always a good idea. Stir.

Nuts. It will take more time than you anticipate to chop the nuts; now is a good time to turn off the heat on the stove. If the meditation in the previous step took you more than a moment or two, you should have turned off the heat on the stove then. By now, you will have decided which nuts you intend to use. Chop them into the size that looks most edible to you. Nuts I have used with great success include: pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, macadamia nuts. Don't be shy to use more than one type of nut. I use about a cup of nuts. Add the nuts to your pot. Stir.

Baking. You will take out a large baking sheet. I don't recall any need to butter it. You will spread evenly the contents of your pot on this sheet. If you are discerning, you may wish to scoot your granola away from the edges of the pan, as these will cook more quickly than the rest of your cereal. Gently set your sheet of granola on the top rack in your oven and set your oven timer for twenty minutes.

Look for something to do in the kitchen. This would be an excellent opportunity to wash everything you've just dirtied on the stove. This will take less than twenty minutes. If you must leave the kitchen at this time in search of other pursuits, check on your granola first. You may wish to stir it about.

When your timer goes off, you will remove the tray of granola from the oven. You will set it on the top of the stove or on the counter to cool. You will resist the temptation to put it in a big jar while it is still warm.

Fruits. Once your granola is perfectly cool, as if it had never been in the oven, you may begin to think about dried fruit. You will have decided at this point which dried fruits you intend to add to your granola. I tend to prefer cranberries, cherries and apricots or nectarines. Other highly acceptable fruits include blueberries, raisins, currants, and even banana chips. Be forewarned that banana chips do not have the same shelf life as your other dried fruits. However, if they are edible when your granola is made, there is a high likelihood that your granola will be consumed prior to their going bad. If you are using such large fruits as apricots, nectarines or bananas, you will have chopped them while your granola was in the oven. You will add your dried fruits now. You will put a handful of your cool granola into its large jar and sprinkle your dried fruits and repeat, adding handfuls (or spoonfuls) of granola and sprinkling in fruits and rolling your jar about to mix in your fruits until such time as you have added all of your granola to the jar and it contains a pleasing amount of fruit. If you have been impatient and begun adding your fruits while your granola was still warm, you will discover that your fruits have become dry and hard not unlike small pebbles. If such is your predicament, at the very least you will not screw on the top of your jar of granola until such a time as it has completely cooled. Otherwise, pebble fruits will not be the least of your troubles.

Enjoyment. You are now hungry. Now is the time to enjoy your first bowl of granola. You might consider serving it on top of chopped fresh fruits, such as apples, strawberries, peaches, &c. You might find you like to eat it with milk or soy (or rice or almond) milk or with yogurt. You may wish to sprinkle some on top of your oatmeal, when you eat hot oatmeal. You might consider consuming it in equal portions with muesli to lighten it up.

Appendix: Favourable combinations of spices, extracts, nuts and fruits. Included here are a number of tasty combinations for inspiration:
Apricots, almonds, vanilla, sea salt
Tart cherries, pistachios, sea salt
Cranberries, pecans, rose water, cardomom, sea salt
Maple syrup, walnuts, cinnamon, blueberries or raisins