Homemade granola

Granola. It's good for you, although quite high in fat (mostly good fat, some bad, depending...). I buy it. It sits around because, let's face it, it's unremarkable. I throw it away. I buy a different kind. Oh yes oh yes, with hemp and flax this time. THIS granola will transform my breakfast. Or not. There's always toast.

It never dawned on me to make granola. Some time during my winter hunkering though I spotted a recipe in the beautiful cookbook, La Tartine Gourmande. At first I thought it would be cheating to make a granola recipe as part of my cookbook challenge. I mean, this book has Jerusalem artichoke soup with sauteed scallops and truffle oil and Eggplant, lamb and winter squash crumble, and Coriander-flavored carrot and zucchini tartlets, But then I woke up and remembered the whole point is to learn new staples. What's more staple than granola?

Making this was easy (although, disclaimer, I didn't grow my own oats). What I like most is that you can use all the best ingredients you can find. You can add the dregs of every last bag of nuts and dried fruit you own. You can avoid palm oil. You can adjust the sugar. Have a craving for dried mango, chili flakes, and coconut? Add that shit. Sesame and banana? Failure is not an option.

Although making homemade granola doesn't save you time, it does save on air freshener costs. And it's got to be cheaper than granola of comparable quality. I encourage you to try it - especially if you've have a box sitting in your cabinet since 2011.