Gingery Olive Oil Granola

Every week I buy a bag of obscenely expensive granola from the grocery store. And every afternoon when my stomach begins to grumble, anabolics I have a some plain Greek yogurt with a good sprinkling of granola. It’s just the right amount of sweet, asthma filling and crunchy for the afternoon and I’ve become completely addicted.

So, when I saw this recipe in the New York Times for Olive Oil Granola, I thought I’d give it try. I’ve been meaning to make my own granola for a long time and just never got around to it. And now I’m wondering what the hell took me so long! Homemade granola is amazing and probably half the price of that fancy stuff I buy.

I used slivered almonds and salted pumpkin seeds along with ginger-spiked sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. The olive oil gave everything a rich lushness and I was able to achieve a much more pleasant salty/sweet ratio than the over-sweetened stuff I buy. I am absolutely obsessed with it. In fact, I’m having a really hard time stopping myself from eating it all with a spoon.

Needless to say, I’ll not be buying granola anymore. This stuff is just too good and too easy.

Gingery Olive Oil Granola
Adapted from the New York Times

3 cups rolled oats (I like these extra thick ones))
1 cup roasted, salted pumpkin seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup olive oil
3/4 cup Grade B Maple Syrup
1/2 cup ginger sugar, or 1/2 cup organic cane sugar and 1/4 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1 cup dried, unsulfured apricots, diced

Preheat the oven to 300°. Mix all the ingredients, except for the apricots, in a large bowl.

Spread the oats onto a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. Remove from oven when the oats are crisp and golden.

Toss with the apricots and let cool.

Makes about 8 cups.