Hazelnut Cherry Granola

I wonder if you ever really know your parents?

My childhood self took living on a small family farm as the norm. Yet even then, it wasn’t. Having known my parents for decades, I have to wonder why I never asked them about their choice to buy and move to the farm. Two people couldn’t have been raised in more different circumstances; I would describe my mother as “cool jazz,” while my father was “a little bit country.” She had grown up in a comfortable urban home and attended a year of college, which she left to attempt a career in her beloved dancing. He had been raised poor on a family farm with many siblings, and at the first opportunity, exited the farm of his youth for city lights. It was the early fifties, and they were living the good life in a hip urban neighborhood when they flew the coop for life in the country. I suspect that my father’s memories of a farm childhood along with the birth of my older brother spurred the decision. While my mother would not strike one as the farm type, she truly bloomed where she was planted. She loved the farm and lived there for the majority of her life. Gardening, cooking, and preserving became her primary activities for a number of years while raising my brother and me.

When you think of farm meals, do you think of hearty, home-style comfort food? Well, there was a bit of that on occasion. But somehow my mother turned out to be a royal health food queen at the very moment that most people were discovering cake mix and biscuits in a tube. Two popular cookbooks of the time dominated our family’s diet, one from Carlton Fredericks and the other by Adele Davis. Somehow Mr. Fredericks parlayed an English degree into being a “nutrition consultant,” while Ms. Davis actually did have nutrition background, and is honored to this day. Both were into whole wheat, dried milk, wheat germ and low sugar, along with pushing vitamin and mineral supplements. Oh yes, we took our nasty horse pill vitamins on the farm! (Well, most of us-as I remember my dad escaped to work each day before the dosing occurred.) Both food writers also championed some questionable ideas as well, but my mother lived (and we ate) by their words.

I don’t even know how she obtained some of her ingredients, but I do remember trips to a local grain mill for stone ground whole-wheat flour. Yogurt had yet to hit the grocery aisles, so she made her own in a small warming oven adjacent to the baking oven. Our “popsicles” were home frozen from yogurt and juice concentrate. Most baked goods were the recipients of a whole-wheat makeover, and the rare item not baked from scratch got wheat germ plastered on the top.  I was a kid trying to fit in; living on a farm and eating “weird” food didn’t earn my support, but in the long haul my mama’s healthful approach to cooking was pretty influential. I probably shouldn’t mention that I gave up the vitamins the day I left for college though…

In honor of my mom’s and Adele’s approach to diet, I’m making granola this morning. Here in the desert southwest, the heat is ramping up and I am in need of hot weather whole grain breakfasts. While researching Adele Davis, I noted from the Adele Davis Foundation that she was the developer of granola as we know it today, that crisp mixture of oats, seeds, sweetener and nuts. Her recipe is on the foundation website should you wish to check it out. My mother would have embraced it for its use of soy flour and dried milk. Having eaten my share of soy flour and dried milk, I’m going with my own recipe! Simultaneously crisp and chewy, this granola is not too sweet, allowing the rich flavors of the nuts and fruit to shine. That said, if you like your granola on the sweeter side, you may wish to add brown sugar to taste along with the syrup mixture.

Print Recipe

Hazelnut Cherry Granola

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Cereal

Servings: 16 servings

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole old-fashioned oats
• ½ cup golden flax meal
• 1 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts
• ½ cup dried unsweetened coconut
• ½ cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/3- cup sorghum or maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 –cup neutral vegetable oil I use avocado, but coconut would be delicious
• 1 beaten egg white
• ½ cup cacao nibs
• ½ cup dried cherries

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 300° F. Spray a large sheet pan lightly with pan spray and set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax meal, nuts, coconut and pumpkin seeds.
• Combine the syrup, oil and extract in a small saucepan and warm over low heat. Stir this mixture into the oats thoroughly, making sure the grains are coated. Add the beaten egg white and again mix thoroughly. Turn the mixture onto the prepared sheet pan and spread into a thin layer. Bake, turning the mixture several for 30-45 minutes, until it is the brownness you like.
• Allow for thorough cooling, as the granola will crisp as it cools. Then, gently break into clusters with a pancake turner, and stir in the cacao nibs and cherries.

*Gluten-free if made with certified gluten-free oats

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