Nutty Vanilla Apricot Granola

I really love being on break, because it gives me a chance to finally get in the kitchen and make some of the delicious recipes I've seen floating around the blog world. Like granola! I think I tend to pass by granola pretty easily because it's usually so sugar-laden and SO expensive! (hello, whole foods??) But I wanted to make something for my friend L, since we had decided to meet in the city for lunch at Plant Cafe.

I had been deciding between a peanut butter brownie and cinnamon swirl bread, when I remembered she wasn't eating sweets! So after a quick check, I decided granola would be perfect.

I found several recipes I liked but none that sounded perfect to me, so I did what I do best and combined a bunch of ideas into one recipe I hoped would be a success. Luckily for me, and I guess L too, I think it was!

So here's my recipe for Nutty Vanilla Apricot Granola:


Ingredients:

• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup chopped raw, unsalted almonds
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ cup chopped dried apricots
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup safflower oil (canola is okay too)
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine oats, nuts and apricots.
3. Add vanilla, oil, honey and cinnamon and mix well so that the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
4. Spread the mixture onto a greased cooking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before storing in an air tight container for up to a week. (If it lasts that long!)

Happy Baking!
Jessica

Dorie's Thumbprints

After such a long day yesterday watching my brother play a golf match in Antioch- it was 100 degrees all afternoon! I just did not have the energy to bake anything when we got home at 11pm. It was great to finally watch Zach play a full round and I am so impressed that he's able to play golf day in and day out, without being exhausted ALL the time! As I write this, he's on his way to a course in Aptos with my dad for another round! :-)

So today, I am fully making up for my missed day by making Dorie's "Thumbprints For Us Big Guys." I'd had my eye on them all week but I'm so happy I waited until I had some free time to make them in a leisurely way, they were so simple and classic, but easy to customize with a simple change of filling. I used raspberry jam in some, apricot preserves in others, and of course Nutella in just a few. ;-) Easy and low-key but cute and tasty, give them a try!

Thumbprints For Us Big Guys

adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours

• 1 3/4 cups finely ground walnuts
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
• About 1 cup jam/preserves/Nutella for the filling

GETTING READY: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together ground nuts and flour.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the extracts and beat to blend. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the nut-flower mixture, mixing only until it is incorporated into the dough.

Working with a teaspoonful of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms to form small balls and place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Steadying each cookie with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, use the pinkie of your other hand (or the end of a wooden spoon) to poke a hole in the center of each cookie. Be careful not to go all the way down to the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies should be only slightly colored–they may even look underdone, which is fine: they should not be overbaked. When the cookies are baked, remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheets for 2 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks with a wide metal spatula and sifting confectioner’s sugar over them.

Repeat with the remaining dough, remembering to cool the baking sheets before baking the next batch.

Bring jam to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat, or bring to a boil in a microwave oven; remove from the heat. Fill the indentations of all the cookies with enough of the hot jam to come level with the tops. Cool to room temperature.

Happy Baking!

Jessica