When I told my friend Julia this evening that I had just made granola, she replied, "If that isn't a stereotype."
Julia lives on the East Coast.
She's a Portland girl by birth, and probably owns more tie-dye than I do (one shirt, which my parents bought for me, okay?), but the stereotype of the dread-locked white chick baking granola to Phish while fragrant waves of Patchouli grace her cleansed-with-biodegradable-food-products skin is strongly ingrained in the popular culture. For an east-coaster--even one with Western roots--the fact that I do not have dreadlocks or scent my house with Patchouli is nullified by the fact that I bake bread, belong to a CSA and utilize (privately) the term "locavore" without cynicism.
Well, sprinkle me with fairy dust and send me to the Oregon Country Fair. Because granola this good is worth the name-calling.
The recipe is Molly Wizenberg's, taken from June 2010 Bon Appetit. I modified the recipe slightly to use cashews instead of pecans and slightly less honey than Molly calls for; granola is both flexible and forgiving. I've only tasted a few of the crumbles--one must eat a real dinner, after all--but I'm already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow. This granola is sweet and wholesome, without the sometimes cloying sugar and rich fats of store-bought varieties.
Tonight's other project--less socially stigmatized but still rarely performed--was to bake graham crackers. I was inspired by Deb's graham tartlets, but didn't want to deal with macerated strawberries and whipped cream. True to recent cravings, I wanted something reasonably simple, with whole grains and a homey flavor.
As you can see above, the little buggers were hard to hold together, resulting in an unhappily patchy surface. (Though the little bears are pretty darn cute. Even with mangled feet.) I followed Deb's recipe exactly, but next time would add a little milk or even apple juice to the dough to make it softer and less dry. The recipe also yielded far fewer cookies for me (10 instead 16), but that might be due to the fact that after a few unsuccessful attempts at rolling out the dough, I resorted to lightly bashing it flat with the side of the rolling pin. The spicing is just right, though, and once baked, the graham crackers are crunchy, buttery and not too sweet, perfect for dipping into tea.
Well, sprinkle me with fairy dust and send me to the Oregon Country Fair. had me giggling!
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