Winter Spice Granola

When presents from me were the only presents under the tree for a good, solid week before being joined by others, I realized that perhaps I was a bit of a keener when it came to Christmas this year. (But clearly, not when it came to blogging about it - after a holiday season where I've been mostly away from the computer and too busy to even bank posts for later, I'm ready to get back on track! Lots of posts to come in the upcoming week(s)... hopefully...)

Maybe it was because Canada Post scared me into believing that I needed to get my presents out by December 1 in order to have them arrive in Switzerland in time for Christmas (they got there on December 9, thank you very much) or because for the first time in my life I didn't have exams, final evaluations and packing to go home to get out of the way before getting into the holiday spirit.

There was a lot of talk in the office about Christmas food traditions - the kinesiologist makes pans and pans of lasagnes with his mother every year, and one of the nurses said she was going to make batches and batches of cookies. Since we all know I suck at decorating cookies anyway, I started dreaming up something a little different...


Granola has a reputation of being healthy and virtuous, which really isn't true because most are loaded with added fats and sugar. This recipe, which I adapted from Molly, David and Cenk, who in turn adapted it from the Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson, replaces most of the oil with applesauce, and I cut out the brown sugar and brown rice syrup in the recipe in favour of a touch of maple syrup. This granola is also quite fibrous - at 6 g of fibre per ½ cup, I can sometimes feel my jaw starting to give a little bit as I'm nearing the end of my bowl.


Don't get me wrong - this stuff still packs a punch calorie-wise (½ cup of this stuff clocks in at over 300 calories), but the calories are coming from the heart-healthy fats in all the nuts and seeds. Over at Healthy Eats, they recommend keeping your portions down to ¼ cups; if you're having granola as your cereal, then you should mix your granola with a lower-calorie cereal to help fill you.

    


What I like about this recipe is that you can easily adjust it to suit your taste - change the types and ratios of the different nuts and seeds, try different spices, use a fruit purée other than applesauce, and best of all, add in your favourite dried fruit.


For this Winter Spice Granola, I added apple chips (both "original" and "Granny Smith" for the different colours) as well as some dried cranberries. If I was feeling particularly ambitious I would've probably baked my own apple chips and made my own applesauce, but I figure quadrupling the recipe was ambitious enough this time around ;)

But seriously, what about the other seasons? Fall would probably be similar (except maybe more pumpkin seeds and perhaps no need for red and green apples) but summer can bring in lots of tropical dried fruit, like mangoes and coconut. Mmm the possibilities are endless!


On a random side note, this past week I discovered that Big Rock Brewery has a lovely amber ale out called Winter Spice ale during the holiday season. I swear I named my granola before discovering the beer, but both actually have very similar undertones (I am just reading now that they used the same spices I did in the granola. Well, then.)

Winter Spice Granola
Adapted from Orangette, David Lebovitz and Café Fernando, who in turn adapted it from Nigella Lawson's Feast.
Makes about 12 cups

• 5 cups (1.25 L) rolled oats
  
• 1 cup (250 mL) almonds
  
• 1 cup (250 mL) pecans
  
• 1 cup (250 mL) pumpkin seeds, hulled, raw
  
• 1 cup (250 mL) sunflower seeds, hulled, raw
  
• ¾ cup (185 mL) sesame seeds
  
• 2 tsp (10 mL) ground cinnamon
  
• 1 tsp (5 mL) ground ginger
  
• ½ tsp (2 mL) nutmeg
  
• ½ tsp (2 mL) cloves
  
• ¾ cup (185 mL) unsweetened applesauce
  
• ½ cup (125 mL) maple syrup
  
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
  
• 70 g apple chips, crushed
  
• 1 cup (250 mL) dried cranberries

1. Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat to 300°F (150°C).
   
2. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Stir to mix well. In a small bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. Stir to mix well. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones, and stir well.
   
3. Spread the mixture evenly on two rimmed baking sheets. Place granola in oven and set a timer to go off every ten minutes while the granola bakes, so you can rotate the pans and give the granola a good stir. After stirring the granola, make sure you spread the granola back evenly in pan to prevent burning. Remove granola from oven after 3-4 rotations (30-40 minutes) and stir well to keep it from cooling in a hard, solid sheet.
   
4. Scoop cooled granola into a large zipper-lock plastic bag or other airtight container. Mix in apple chips and dried cranberries and store in refrigerator indefinitely.

Nutrition Info (per ½ cup): 337 calories, 17 g fat (2 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 37 g carbohydrate (6 g fibre, 9 g sugar), 11 g protein, 5 mg sodium. An excellent source of thiamin (vitamin B₁), magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper and manganese. A good source of folate, iron and selenium.