Gingery Olive Oil Granola

July 31st, 2009 | Filed under: breakfast, dessert, recipe, sides & bites | Tags: almonds, apricots, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, granola, oats, pumpkin seeds, vegetarianGingery 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, I have a some plain Greek yogurt with a good sprinkling of granola. It’s just the right amount of sweet, 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.

Gingery Olive Oil Granola

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.

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21 Comments

21 Comments on “Gingery Olive Oil Granola”

  1. 1Joanna said at 2:35 pm on July 31st, 2009:I also tried my hand at olive oil granola last week and was extremely pleased with the results, as my almost empty stash can attest. I love the ginger addition.
  2. 2Jen @ MaplenCornbread said at 2:52 pm on July 31st, 2009:YUM! This looks and sounds incredible!!!!! I’ve not made a batch of homemade granola in quite a few weeks. Im going to make this!! I LOVE that you used olive oil and maple syrup 🙂
  3. 3The Duo Dishes said at 5:14 pm on July 31st, 2009:The problem with homemade granola is that it doesn’t last long enough. Hard to keep the hands out of the jar!
  4. 4deeba said at 5:57 pm on July 31st, 2009:Saw your pic on TS & thought you had a pretty good reason to be officially obsessed! That granola looks DELISH…& can see it won’t last too long. Do you think maple syrup could be substituted by honey? This is a great post!!
  5. 5Stacey Snacks said at 6:28 am on August 1st, 2009:Ok, I will try this.
    My husband likes the individual yogurts with the packet of granola on top, but he feels it’s such a waste with all the fancy extra packaging (he is very “green”).
    He asked me to make a batch of granola to sprinkle on his yogurt.
    Sold!
  6. 6Erin said at 5:34 pm on August 1st, 2009:ADDICTIVE! I made some based off that recipe too (here’s the link if you’re interested). It was SO SO SO good. In fact I think I’m going to make more this weekend. I ate and shared all of mine in 1 week!
  7. 7diva said at 8:18 pm on August 1st, 2009:i should really start making my own granola and stop spending a fortune on the storebought stuff! i need granola and muesli for breakfast, lunch and mid-day snack so this recipe is going to be amazing for my wallet!! 🙂 x
  8. 8Tavolini said at 1:54 pm on August 3rd, 2009:What a good idea!! I love all things ginger. Thanks for sharing!
  9. 9Brittany (He Cooks She Cooks) said at 11:55 pm on August 3rd, 2009:Once you make your own granola, you never go back to paying absurd prices for it again. There are endless variations too. A few favorites: almond-cardamom with dried cherries and almond extract, cinnamon apple with raisins, walnuts and dried apple, pumpkin butter cashew with pepitas, cashew cranberry with orange zest…Experiment with using honey instead of syrup and try mix-ins like ground flax seed. I have a feeling granola is going to be your new favorite kitchen venture.
  10. 10rob said at 9:27 pm on August 5th, 2009:dried apricots, gag me…how about another dried fruit?
  11. 11mel said at 7:29 am on August 6th, 2009:rob – Pretty much any dried fruit would be good: golden or regular raisins, mango, apples… If you’re not into dried fruit at all, how about sweetened banana chips or chocolate chips or both?
  12. 12marie said at 6:33 am on August 10th, 2009:This is now put on my “to make” list. The only problem I’ll have is stopping myself from eating more than I should!
  13. 13Fran said at 4:19 am on August 13th, 2009:I made this for breakfast this morning with a handful of substitutions, nut-wise, and some crystallized ginger, which I happened to have on hand. Excellent. I’d been making granola with EVO for a while, but I think the full teaspoon of salt is what does it. I’m never going back to a pinch of salt again!
  14. 14Olive Oil Granola with Ginger and Currants » Breakfast » Plate to Plate said at 8:30 am on August 13th, 2009:[…] was converted to this recipe, I must point out, by Mel of Bitchin’ Camero, a former colleague and obviously a phenomenal cook. She had me at the title — Gingery Olive […]
  15. 15Sinead said at 1:25 pm on August 22nd, 2009:I finally have some time to make this, but now I have one question (and please pardon my ignorance.) What is ginger sugar?Thanks!
  16. 16mel said at 5:26 am on August 23rd, 2009:Sinead – it’s just ginger-flavored sugar, but you can make your own by mixing powdered ginger with some sugar. Crystallized ginger works well too – see here.
  17. 17Sinead said at 12:17 am on August 27th, 2009:Thanks so much, Mel! I’ll let you know how it turns out.
  18. 18Spiced Olive Oil and Pistachio Cookies | bitchincamero said at 12:23 pm on August 28th, 2009:[…] Olive Oil Granola recipe made me a convert – I’m now mildly obsessed with adding olive oil to all things […]
  19. 19jeff mark said at 2:13 am on February 25th, 2010:Hello Sir/Madam,
    My name is Jeff. I am to place an order with you which I hope you will be able to assist me with. I would like to order some OLIVE OIL from you. Let me know if you carry those and if you do, kindly let me know the brands and types that you have in stock and their prices.Below is some specifications on what I would like. Also advice on the additional charges on credit card use. I would be looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Thank you.Best Regards,
    Jeff Mark.

    1920 MONROE DR NE, Atlanta, GA

  20. 20Olive Oil Granola With Dried Apricots and Pistachios « the taste space – steam, bake, boil, shake! said at 3:01 pm on June 11th, 2010:[…] been hearing great things about olive oil granola originally posted at the New York Times, and also spotted on many other food blogs. People rave about homemade granola, and then there’s raving about […]
  21. 21Gingery Olive Oil Granola | BITCHIN’ CAMERO | ClubEvoo said at 1:03 pm on July 29th, 2010:[…] Read this article: Gingery Olive Oil Granola | BITCHIN’ CAMERO […]

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