Because Miz Valerie has been asking about some rough-and-ready guidelines for granola for the faint of heart, in the interest of research, I riffed on my generic granola recipe and made some extra-nutty honey nut granola yesterday with twice as many nuts as usual, no millet or flax, buckwheat honey thrown in with the sweeteners, and a generous splash of almond extract.  Hello, deliciousness!

What prompted the out-of-season granola fest?  Well, a few things have been weighing on Miz Valerie’s mind about the granola-making process.  Specifically, she wanted some wet-to-dry ratios and the details on how long it would keep.  Miz V, this post is for you.

I made a batch of honey nut granola because my gut suggested that if I put in more nuts and fewer oats, I would need less liquid due to the fact that oats absorb more than nuts would.  Instead, I found it didn’t make a whole heck of a lot of difference, though my granola tasted somewhat sweeter with fewer oats.  (However, that could have been due to the fact that I used some honey this time, which I find to be sweeter than some of the other liquid sweeteners.)

So I turned to my overstuffed cookbook shelf and began searching for info.

I located no fewer than six granola recipes in as many books, and I was somewhat surprised by what I saw.  The recipes varied quite a bit, as much as a cup or two from the approximately 9:1 dry:wet ratio I had been using.  When I saw Mark Bittman’s recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, that sealed it for me.  His basic granola recipe uses 9 parts dry ingredients (excluding the raisins tossed in at the end) to between .5-1 part wet, meaning sweeteners in this case.  He eschews oil completely, and he suggests that if you want to use a nut butter, to simply toss it in with the sweetener for mixing purposes and not bother altering any of the ingredient ratios.

There you have it.  About 9 parts dry to .5-1 part wet, or to taste, as Bittman says, outside of any nut butters or dried fruits you may have a hankering for.  Oh–and remember to add those dried fruits after the granola is cooked, unless you want puffy, crispy raisins.  (I find my granola stays crispier if I don’t add dried fruit, though…and I like crispy granola.)

Really, I swear, granola is incredibly forgiving.  It’s a recipe you can embrace pretty fearlessly.  If it’s too wet, you just have a longer cooking time.  If it’s too dry, it might be a little less sweet than you wanted.  These are surmountable problems.  Oh–best of all, Bittman says if you keep it in a tightly sealed container in the fridge, it keeps indefinitely.  While it can certainly keep on a shelf in a cupboard for a couple weeks, refrigeration will keep the delicate oils in the nuts from going rancid.  Make a big batch and stick it in the fridge to enjoy over time.

By the way, if operating an oven is a pain, you can make granola on the stove top over a low heat.  You just need to be patient and have a good stirring arm.

Onward, granolaphiles!

P.S.  For something different, try pistachios in your granola, especially if you live in Arizona, home of a whole lotta pistachios.  Miz V herself got me hooked on that one.  Very addictive.

P.P.S.  Let’s hear from you, readers.  What’s your favorite granola recipe?  What questions would you like to pose to the Simple Spoonful?