Maple Pecan Granola

I’ve hit that point in the year where I feel like my to-do list is becoming insurmountable.

I’ve got rehearsals, shows, classes, lessons, more rehearsals, and concerts (on top of planning for next year.)  I’ve got music, music, and more music.

It is points like these that if I’m not careful, I burn out.  I retreat back, hardly get anything done, and begin to question my career path.  I love music but there are times it just seems too much.  However, I’ve been here before and like with most things, the more you do it, the better you get at it.

I have to take the occasional moment and step back.

Being in the kitchen is good for this, it’s good for the soul.  It evokes senses the two sense that music ignores and brings an equilibrium to an otherwise packed day.

I made this granola during lunch yesterday as some what of an aroma therapy.  The toasting oats and pecans create a better smell than an candle could (and it’s a tasty snack for after.)  It’s so simple to throw together and takes very little care while it bakes.

A perfect pit stop to balance my day.

I wanted to keep this recipe simple and I’m glad I did. Five ingredients is all it needs.

As I continue to learn more about oils, I tend to continue to change.  First I ditched canola oil and I’m finding myself use less and less of sunflower.  I found these nut oils,  walnut, pecan, and almond, that add a lovely hint of nut to everything (kind of like coconut oil adds just a subtle bit of coconut.)  If you can’t find the nut oil, any oil would work.

Maple Pecan Granola

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

1 hour 15 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

Author: Erin Alderson

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup pecan pieces
• ¼ cup nut oil (pecan or walnut)
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300˚ and cover a baking tray with parchment (or silpat.)
2. Combine oats, pecans and salt, then whisk together oil and syrup. Pour over oats and continue to stir until all oats are covered.
3. Pour oats on to tray and evenly spread into a thin layer. Bake for 1-1½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes. Granola should be lightly browned and beginning to crisp when done. Remove and let sit until cool.

Notes

This is a very base recipe and you can always add extras: flax, hemp, or sun flower seeds, oat bran, wheat germ, etc. Just make sure you remove that amount of oats for how much extra you put in. Also, you can add dried fruit, but this would be after the granola has cooked, so amounts do not matter as much.

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