This granola was made specifically as a method for enjoying the dried strawberries that we got at the market the other day.  They aren’t just dried fruit, the strawberries do have some sugar added and when we bought them were labeled as “confiture”, making them more like fruit snacks, [...]]]>

This granola was made specifically as a method for enjoying the dried strawberries that we got at the market the other day.  They aren’t just dried fruit, the strawberries do have some sugar added and when we bought them were labeled as “confiture”, making them more like fruit snacks, but oh were they delicious and worth every franc (at 4.50/100g they are not cheap!).  So that we didn’t scarf them down like small children who had just found their way into Willy Wonka’s factory, I decided to incorporate them into a gluten free granola.  Granola isn’t hard to make, it just takes a little babysitting and turning every now and then.  The best thing about granola? You can put in it literally whatever you want!(...)
Read the rest of Gluten Free Granola (456 words)

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I don’t usually write about my failures in the kitchen – after all, who wants to try a recipe that didn’t work?  However, at the risk of sounding cliché, I’m learning the slow lesson that life is not always about the end result, but about [...]]]>

I don’t usually write about my failures in the kitchen – after all, who wants to try a recipe that didn’t work?  However, at the risk of sounding cliché, I’m learning the slow lesson that life is not always about the end result, but about the process that one went through to get there.

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

Daring Cooks always post on the 14th of the month, but I made this attempt over two weeks ago.  So it appears a little out of order if you remember it was just last week that I had a miraculous find of guar gum in a natural foods store.  This attempt happened before I had guar gum and before I found gluten free bread mix.  We were charged with making baguettes, and after finding an awesome gluten free baguette recipe to try, learned that it would not happen without xanthan or guar gum. So, I took one of my sandwich bread recipes, and made a go without any binding agents by adding in some extra eggs and playing with the ratio of flours a bit.  I have also since learned from one of my favorite gluten free chemists that gelatin or agar agar should never be used in baking, because they turn the products too brittle.  I guess when making pitas or pizza dough it hasn’t been a problem for me because they are pretty flat to begin with, but for a crusty bread, brittle is definitely not a quality I’m looking for.

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Read the rest of Smoked Salmon Pâté (816 words)

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You either love ‘em or hate ‘em.  Remember last Winter how it was the coolest (or uncoolest) thing ever to wear big furry suede boots of a certain unnamed brand and tuck your jeans in them? Chances are people either thought you were [...]]]>

You either love ‘em or hate ‘em.  Remember last Winter how it was the coolest (or uncoolest) thing ever to wear big furry suede boots of a certain unnamed brand and tuck your jeans in them? Chances are people either thought you were either rocking them like a cute little ski bunny or that you looked freaking ridiculous.  But no matter if you actually wore them or not, you’ve no doubt seen someone with them and have a pretty solid idea if they were awesome or terrible.

That’s exactly how beets are – they are possibly one of the most polarizing foods I know, and everyone has an opinion about them, good or bad.  We both happen to be part of the “beets are freaking awesome” camp, but are always looking for new ways to eat them besides in salads, our usual choice.    I just love their earthy, almost “umami” type of taste – they add an extra dimension to the flavor profile of just about any dish.  So when I came across this recipe for baked beet chips by Joelen of Joelen’s Culinary Adventures, I knew it had to be next on our list of yummy delights to try.

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Read the rest of Simple Snack – Beet Chips (344 words)

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Sometimes it’s all about the little things, right?  Like this sweet apricot & yogurt mustard, intended to garnish my birthday celebration of roast lamb.  My memories of lamb growing up at various family functions always involved some sickly sweet mint jelly from a jar that I thought had [...]]]>

Sometimes it’s all about the little things, right?  Like this sweet apricot & yogurt mustard, intended to garnish my birthday celebration of roast lamb.  My memories of lamb growing up at various family functions always involved some sickly sweet mint jelly from a jar that I thought had no place near any meat I was ever going to eat, often emanating a radioactive green hue that made me wonder if I could somehow get it to glow in the dark instead of garnishing a roast lamb.  Needless to say, I’ve never really been able to get over that impression when it comes to mint jelly (though I’m sure if I tried a homemade version this impression could easily be altered), and so sought out something a little different to garnish my rack of lamb last weekend.  Actually, I stayed away from mint altogether, since I already had mint with the peas – I decided instead to embrace the sweeter flavor of the mustard/pistachio crust, and made a great little garnish that rivals any mint jelly.

Maybe I should call this a dip, because I could just as easily dip crackers into it as I could use it to garnish meat.  Either way, it was sweet and tangy, but not so potent that it overpowered the taste of the rich meat.  It was also incredibly easy to throw together – no cooking, just add everything to the food processor and mix.  You could use several different dried fruits here, I could easily see figs being used too – be a little adventurous, maybe you’ll find a great new flavor combination!

As for the chips, I was totally inspired by a 12 year old food blogger, who is super cute and created some of the most instructive cooking videos I have seen in a while – it just goes to show that cooking can be done at any age, and she is truly a great young talent!  She posted a video about making sage risotto that included a garnish of sage chips.  I took the idea one step further, and also made some morel chips out of fresh morels I got at the store this weekend.  I was seriously giddy inside when I saw that there were fresh morels available at the market.  If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a bit of a mushroom nut and love cooking with all sorts of mushrooms.  Maybe I’m just a big fan of that umami element to food, or maybe mushrooms just freaking rock.

So how do fried morel chips taste?  Great – the frying really enhanced their flavor, and I love how they were so crunchy like chips.  I probably did not even have to salt them like I did the sage chips because they were so flavorful already.  But I liked the contrast of the fried salty savory of the chips against the sweet apricot and mustard yogurt.  I also liked how the textures contrasted as well, with crunchy chips complementing the smooth creamy yogurt mustard quite well.  And it all went with the lamb, even with the minted peas.  Thanks to a fantastic 12 year old cook for the inspiration!

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Read the rest of Apricot & Yogurt Mustard with Sage & Morel Chips (158 words)

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Besides salads, this dish might be the first dish here that doesn’t involve any cooking.  In fact, everything about this dish is completely raw.  I’m not necessarily a proponent of raw food, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t give myself the chance to make something delicious if it happens to be [...]]]>

Besides salads, this dish might be the first dish here that doesn’t involve any cooking.  In fact, everything about this dish is completely raw.  I’m not necessarily a proponent of raw food, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t give myself the chance to make something delicious if it happens to be raw.  One of my husband’s favorite fruits in the world are dates, especially Medjool dates which are very sweet and soft.  Eating a Medjool date is like eating candy, it is that sweet.  Absolutely delicious!

So I like to make desserts that feature one of nature’s best candies.  One thing that we purchase often is what is called “date cake” in the grocery store – it literally has just two ingredients, walnuts and dates.  We often just slice pieces for dessert, or a snack and I finally decided that this was so simple that I was sure I could replicate it pretty easily.  And actually, my first try turned out pretty darned delicious.  My husband even said it was better than the store-bought version (as most homemade things are).  I added in some honey not really to sweeten it, but ironically, to make the entire mixture less sticky.  I know, sounds backwards, right?  But it worked.  Honey adds a great flavor as well.

I would like to try this next with pistachios instead of walnuts I think.  But there you have it, an entirely raw dessert that is delicious and free of refined sugars.  Don’t let that make you think this is healthy though, the calories and carb count still very much categorize this as a dessert.  Healthier than a slice of birthday cake? Sure.  Healthy? Not really.  But delicious.  Smooth and creamy almost like a fudge consistency with crunchy walnuts throughout.  Dates and walnuts are a perfect marriage of flavors. Enjoy!

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:
100 g dates, chopped
100 g walnuts, chopped
2 tbs. honey

Directions:
1. Pulse dates and half the walnuts in a food processor until it all comes together in a smooth mixture.  Add in the honey, and pulse again until well blended.  The measurement doesn’t have to be very exact.  I eyeballed it in grams because I’m a chemist and it’s easier for me.  The point is about equal mass of each.
2. Using your hands (this will be sticky), spread it out about 1/2″ thick on a wooden surface.  Carefully fold in the rest of the chopped walnuts until all  are incorporated.  Then reshape into a square shaped bar, and wrap with plastic wrap.  Let chill in the fridge about 30 min.
3. Unwrap the bar, carefully cut into bite sized pieces, and garnish each with a walnut half on top.  Store in the fridge, and enjoy!

© Jenn Cuisine, 2009 - 2010. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Many people spend Black Friday battling the stores to take advantage of some great deals right after Thanksgiving.  While I am sure many score some awesome savings, that type of hustle and bustle just isn’t really my style.  So instead, in the morning we got up early with some of the family and went on [...]]]>

Many people spend Black Friday battling the stores to take advantage of some great deals right after Thanksgiving.  While I am sure many score some awesome savings, that type of hustle and bustle just isn’t really my style.  So instead, in the morning we got up early with some of the family and went on a hike - nothing too vigorous, just a quick little 4.5 mile jaunt in the hills – wow am I out of shape haha.  My calves were definitely letting me know it too, but it felt great to be outside for a bit.

And yes, that is an awesome camera pack that I am carrying.  It’s the perfect thing for safely taking my wonderful DSLR camera with me to take photos!

We couldn’t do anything very long because that evening was a surprise 90th birthday party for my husband’s grandparents – it was tons of fun, and they never suspected it!  Some of the family got them out of the house for a few hours while the rest of us cooked and prepped, and then they got to walk in to the entire family singing “Happy Birthday”.  Both of his grandparents turned 90 this year, which is an awesome achievement.  I hope that I get to live as long and be in as good of health as they are to still be able to enjoy family and friends when I am their age.

I decided to make these fritters because after my adventures in deep frying we were pretty sure we had gotten the handle of it now, and besides I had tons of filling leftover from the gluten free pumpkin and chestnut tortellini that I had made for Thanksgiving Day.

Fritters are super easy – take something scrumptious, batter it, and fry it.  That’s it.  The trick is all in the frying – keep your oil hot (around 375F), don’t add in too many at once, and don’t cook them too long, and they will be perfect.

I think what made this work really well for fritters too was the consistency of the filling – the pumpkin added a smooth creaminess while the chestnuts contributed just a bit of texture.  This is something that one could totally experiment with – and while not really the healthiest “munchie” out there, it sure is flavorful!

P.S. sorry for the somewhat blurry pictures, I didn’t really have the time that I normally do to set things up to photograph – but blurry or not, they still were super yummy!

This post is also my submission for this week’s Holiday Food Fest, hosted by Shirley of Gluten Free Easily, where the theme is holiday dishes – be sure to check out everyone’s great ideas!

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:
For the Filling:
1/2 lb. chestnuts, roasted and peeled
1 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 oz. dried chanterelle mushrooms (rehydrated in hot water), or 2 cups fresh, chopped
1 shallots, diced
1 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz. truffled sottoccenere cheese, grated (or your favorite mild but creamy cheese)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbs. sage, minced
1 tbs. rosemary, minced
1 tbs. thyme, minced
salt & pepper
For the Batter:
3 cups of your favorite gluten free pancake batter, prepared

Directions:
1. Pulse roasted chestnut meat in a food processor until ground up fairly well.  Mix with the rest of the filling ingredients in a large bowl, and use your hands to bring it all together.  Then roll into about 1″ sized balls.
2. Start heating up a large pot of canola oil on the stove (or your deep fryer).  Meanwhile, dip the balls of filling into the pancake batter and set in a bowl ready to be deep fried.
3. Once oil is up to temperature (near 375F), start dropping in a few of the fritters at a time (do this in small batches), and let fry until the outsides are crispy, just a couple of minutes – scoop out with a large slotted spoon and let rest on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up any excess oil.  Once cool enough to handle, serve and enjoy!

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I love french fries.  There is something about the contrast of textures of their fried crispy outside and soft chewy  inner core that is irresistable.  Of course I have had potato fries before, and even sweet potato fries, which I prefer over your standard potato.   Sweet potatoes have so much more flavor, and just lend [...]]]>

I love french fries.  There is something about the contrast of textures of their fried crispy outside and soft chewy  inner core that is irresistable.  Of course I have had potato fries before, and even sweet potato fries, which I prefer over your standard potato.   Sweet potatoes have so much more flavor, and just lend themselves better to being fried I think.  Well, if one can make french fries out of potatoes and sweet potatoes, why not other root veggies?  Thus began the concept for tonight’s post, winter root veggie fries.

French fries are super easy to make - slice, cook a little bit, fry in oil, eat.  It’s pretty simple.

We (my husband and I) did the sweet potatoes first, because we knew they would turn out well.  And they did.  Mmmmm scrumptious sweet potaote fries.  I’m getting hungry just thinking about how awesome they tasted.  Then came the other veggies – for this I had purchased a rutabega, turnip, and celery root (celeriac).  Apparently there was a bit of debate in my household over which was the turnip and which was the rutabega, and whether the grocery store had gotten in wrong.  Based on wikipedia’s pictures and a number of results from google, I am going with the pure white fleshed veggie that was half purple half white was the turnip, and the one with a bit more yellow color was the rutabega.  Though apparently some turnips can be yellow and some rutabegas can be white.  I think the real point of confusion was that one grocery store called them rutabegas and the other called it a waxed turnip.  Ha, it’s funny how variable a name can be, even within a 10 mile radius!

How did the veggie fries turn out?  Well, first I had to successfully fry them.  This involved learning the hard way not to put too many into the hot canola oil at once, or the oil will bubble up and splatter all over you and the kitchen!  Not to mention the fact that adding too many at once totally dropped the oil temp very fast and then it was a real task trying to heat them back up again and keep a steady temp.  Some batches we ended up frying twice.  Those turned out the best.  Maybe this means that frying should only be done if you have some type of automatic temp. control.  Maybe someone has some tricks to deep frying in a large pot over the stove that would be useful?

I’m just going to say that the fries were OK.  They were alright, but not awesome.  Especially the celeriac.  The flavor was a bit strong and I think overall too bitter to really work out well as fries,w hich was sad becuase I LOVE celeriac, especially as a puree that accompanies a roast.  Even with salt, pepper and seasonings they really weren’t winners.  Maybe if I had battered them first it would have mellowed that aspect of the taste out a bit.  But just cooking them as french fries, well, I think I’ll stick to the sweet potatoes.  I also wonder if another reason as to why they didn’t taste as good is because those veggies are a bit less starchy than the veggies with “potato” in their name that one is more typically accustomed to seeing cooked this way.

Oh well, it was fun to try something new, even if it wasn’t a total success!

Getting to know your veggies -
If you want to know what your veggies taste like, take a small bit of them raw.  When we were making these we had fun giving everyone blindfolded taste tests to see if they could identify each one.  Ha, this is how the whole “rutabega/turnip” debate started!

© Jenn Cuisine, 2009 - 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us

A pie crust has so many wonderful uses besides making pie – though pie is always a great reason to make a pie crust, especially if it’s in the middle of summer and fresh peaches are to be had.  But seriously, pie crust dough is one of the most versatile doughs I make.  Ever since [...]]]>

A pie crust has so many wonderful uses besides making pie – though pie is always a great reason to make a pie crust, especially if it’s in the middle of summer and fresh peaches are to be had.  But seriously, pie crust dough is one of the most versatile doughs I make.  Ever since I was able to consistently make a GF pie crust that rivals any normal pie crust in taste, structure and texture, I have been looking for new ways of incorporating it into the foods I make.

For my husband, eating food with such a crust takes him back to times when he could experience such foods without worry or care as to their ingredients.  For someone who is gluten intolerant, it is an extremely liberating feeling to be able to just enjoy food and not have it be a substandard version of the food one remembers.  So in turn it makes me feel so happy when I can give him that, by creating something that actually really works.

“Why not just use a mix??” you might ask.  Well, as much as many GF mixes out there today work great for a variety of culinary applications and are often a lot easier to use, I rarely find a pre-made mix that comes out with exactly the perfect texture that I am looking for, and I am pretty sure that different GF baked goods are going to need differing flour:starch ratios depending on what one is making.  And of course the key criteria to GF baking (besides taste) is always the texture.  If the right texture isn’t there, it doesn’t matter how well something tastes, it just wont’ feel “the same.”

Questions I always ask myself when baking gluten free are: Does it hold together like the original glutenous version, or does it crumble before your eyes as soon as your fork even thinks about grabbing a bite (an unfortunately common problem of mine)?  And of course there are issues beyond just structural integrity (ha now, I am sounding like an engineer lol).  Even trying to mimic density can be a challenge – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled something out of the oven only to find that it never rose the way it should and so it looks like a large hard brick, or just the opposite and the entire thing is dried out and falls apart right before your eyes.

But despite all my failures, this is one GF thing I have consistently gotten right, and I’ve been using this recipe for pie crust for a few years now – Here you can see the first time I ever used it (ok, it was also the first time I had ever made a pie, EVER) – my dough handling skills (and photography skills) have improved a bit since then, ha that’s how you know it’s an old picture:

Enough talk of pie and pie crust – what’s a great use of GF pie crust that doesn’t involve pie or dessert or peaches?  Well empanadas of course!  I could seriously eat empanadas all day long – they are handheld bites of a flavorful cheesy filling enveloped by a delicious flakey crust.  My dad and I worked together to make these after he had seen them in our latest issue of Cuisine at Home.  LOVED this filling.  So glad my husband can handle eating corn ok.  Well, what isn’t to love when you have the excuse to cook something in bacon fat?  We were both very pleased to see that the dough was easy to handle and shape here – there were absolutely no issues of the dough breaking when folding it over the filling.  We baked some then and froze the rest (only to be baked just a few days later because none of us could just let them sit in storage and not be enjoyed, haha).  Both ways worked great, and were served as a side to some Mexican chili.

So I have officially conquered GF pie crust, check! Next challenge? Maybe some GF chocolate chip cookies that don’t spread out paper thin all over the baking sheet!  I wish there was a book out there about the chemistry of gluten free baking.  I still need to learn a lot!

Printer Friendly Recipe
Adapted from Cuisine at Home October 2009

Ingredients:
For empanada filling
2 poblano peppers
2 strips bacon, diced
2 c. corn
1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 c. green onions, diced
For the empanada crust
your favorite pie dough, or:
1 c. tapioca flour
1 c. soy flour
1 c. brown rice flour
3 tbs. xanthan gum
12 oz. cream cheese, sliced
12 oz. butter, sliced
egg
paprika

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400F. Roast poblanos until black all over (about 20 min), and then place in a sealed container for 15 min.  The steaming from sealing them up makes it easier to peel the skin off.  Remove skin, remove seeds and dice.
2. Cook bacon in a skillet and set aside (med. heat).  Reserve 1 tbs. of the bacon fat in the skillet, and saute the corn for a few minutes.
3. In a large bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients – peppers, bacon, corn, cheese, green onions, and chill for 2 hrs in the fridge.
4. Make the pie dough in three batches – Combine tapioca flour, soy flour, brown rice flour, xanthan gum, cream cheese and butter in a food processor and pulse until it all comes together into a ball of dough.  Wrap each ball of dough with plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
5.  Take the dough out of the fridge (one at a time), and lay on a sheet  of plastic wrap.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Now place the floured rolling pin on top and roll the dough – I do this with all of my GF dough that I need to roll out now – pizza crust, pie crust, you name it, underneath plastic wrap is totally the way to make sure it holds together – this pic happens to be a pizza dough, but it illustrates what I’m talking about -

6. Preheat oven to 400F.  Cut the dough into 3 1/2 – 4″ circles using a biscuit cutter, the rim of a drinking glass, whatever you happen to have.  Place circles of dough on sheets parchment paper, and place a spoonful of filling in the middle of each.  Then fold in half, pinch shut, and crimp the end with a fork.  You should now have a bunch of fill little crimped half-circle empanadas, ready to be baked.
7.  If you are making these ahead of time, this is where you freeze your empanadas.  Otherwise, brush with egg/water and sprinkle paprika on top (as you can see we were quite generous with the paprika).  Bake about 18 minutes, or until they become golden in color.  Serve and enjoy!

© Jenn Cuisine, 2009 - 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us

One of my favorite parts about roasting delicious squash for a hearty Autumn soup is that you can you create a fantastic snack by toasting the seeds.  Do you remember toasting pumpkin seeds as a kid after carving pumpkins for Halloween?  Well it turns out pumpkins aren’t the [...]]]>

One of my favorite parts about roasting delicious squash for a hearty Autumn soup is that you can you create a fantastic snack by toasting the seeds.  Do you remember toasting pumpkin seeds as a kid after carving pumpkins for Halloween?  Well it turns out pumpkins aren’t the only seeds that make tasty snacks.  Pretty much any squash can be used for toasting tasty seeds – these particular seeds happen to be from the buttercup squash, but I have also used acorn squash seeds – in fact, toasted acorn squash seeds are my absolute favorite!  So next time you are making a festive meal with some fresh squash, don’t forget about this delicious snack to make also!

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:
Your favorite squash seeds (pumpkin, buttercup, acorn, etc.)
olive oil
your favorite seasonings (salt/pepper, italian, etc.)

Directions:
1. Scoop out seeds from squash, and separate them from all of the pulp.
2. Lay seeds out on a pan and let dry thoroughly, either by baking in an oven at 200F and turning over every 30 min., or letting dry out overnight.
3. Once dry, place oven rack on highest possible position and then preheat oven to 400F. Lightly toss in some olive oil to your seeds, and lay out on a pan.  Sprinkle your favorite seasonings on top, and toast, checking every 5 minutes until seeds turn golden brown (about 10-15 min. or so).
4. Let cool, and then enjoy!  Great alone as a snack, or tossed into your favorite trail mix.

© Jenn Cuisine, 2009 - 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

If you haven’t noticed, I like my food to taste as indulgent as possible.  I am definitely one of those people that “lives to eat” rather than “eats to live”.  I think most foodies are.  It is a definite balance though, with pretty strict portion/calorie control and  trying to [...]]]>

If you haven’t noticed, I like my food to taste as indulgent as possible.  I am definitely one of those people that “lives to eat” rather than “eats to live”.  I think most foodies are.  It is a definite balance though, with pretty strict portion/calorie control and  trying to have a fairly active lifestyle, so that I don’t feel like I ever have to restrict myself from taste or flavor.  Some things I eat are totally healthy.  And others are purely indulgent.  I think I would put this granola in the indulgent category for sure.

Mmm granola.  Have you ever had molasses granola before?  If not, I HIGHLY recommend it.  This was more like eating candy than it was eating granola.  Completely crunchy, and completely sweet, I think breakfast is going to be the highlight of my day for a while

I based this recipe off of this cocoa-molasses granola recipe that i found over on Librari[d]an.  I made a gazillion changes (ok, not quite a gazillion, but a few), so am posting my adapted recipe here.

Unfortunately this is not gluten free, because I am too cheap to spend the $$$$ on gluten free oats.  They do exist though.  If you buy gluten free oats, this granola should be celiac friendly.

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups of oats
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tbs. cocoa powder (not unsweetened)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 275F.  Mix oats, coconut, almonds, and seeds in a large bowl and then lay out on a large cookie sheet. Sprinkle with a generous helping of salt, and bake about 15 minutes – take out just before it starts browning and return it back to the original bowl.  Set oven to 300F.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients (up to the cinnamon) to a small pan.  I found that by stirring alone, I could not get the oil to incorporate into the rest of the mixture, so applied a little heat (medium) for a few minutes while stirring rather vigorously until the mixture was completely homogenized together.
3. Gradually add the wet ingredient mixture to the dry, until it is well incorporated.  I felt that the granola was fairly well coated with only about 2/3 of the liquid mixture, but decided to add the rest anyways.  It probably would have made for a shorter baking time if I had stopped then, but that’s ok
4.  I kept the temperature low for the granola (the original recipe said to bake at 350F), because I was really worried about all the sugar in the mixture burning before the granola was done.  Because I used a lower temperature, I only turned the granola every 15 minutes instead of every 10, and the total baking time was closer to an hour.  I could tell when it was done because our home was really fragrant with the smell of the baking granola, it was so enticing!  The granola had just started to really harden a bit and that’s when I knew to pull it out.
5. I turned the granola one last time, and then let it cool for a good hour.  Removing it from the pan was a trick, I used a fork to get under it and pull it off the metal baking sheet, since it was all caramelized and hardened.  Note – this can make a mess.   I also used my fork to break up the large pieces into smaller ones, so that they would be more manageable when eaten.  This was cool though because my granola has all these yummy clusters in it.  Add your cooled granola to a large bowl, and toss in the dried cranberries.  Make sure the cranberries are evenly mixed with the granola, and store in a container far away from reach so you don’t eat it all at once

© Jenn Cuisine, 2009 - 2009. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us