Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Tuesday's Twist: Gingerbread-Spiced Granola

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.



Happy New Year! I've been eating Christmas treats for a month straight so I thought we'd start the year off with some lightened-up granola.  After Gingerbread PopcornLemon and Gingerbread Cake and Spicy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, you would think I'd be sick of gingerbread.  But I'm not, so I packed all spicy bite of gingerbread into a healthy granola.  While its lightened-up in the sense of carbs and fat, it has quite the flavor kick.  Three kinds of ginger give this crunchy granola a spicy bite.


Apparently I like to make weird granola.  During my very first weeks of blogging I posted granola two weeks in a row for Weird Recipe Wednesday.  If you want to sneak in some veggies (and chocolate) try this Zucchini Bread Granola.  This savory Asian Peanut Granola was too weird even for me.  Then I was on a balsamic vinegar kick and stirred up a batch of Balsamic-Honey Granola. I guess I should post a recipe for my normal granola sometime, huh?  But what fun would that be.


This granola would be perfect in Peanut-Granola Brittle.  I'd try it in a heartbeat if I weren't so sick of Christmas treats.  I have a feeling it might happen anyway.


  
Gingerbread-Spiced Granola
inspired by Keepin' It Kind

Ingredients:
4 cups rolled oats
4 cups crisp rice cereal
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized (candied) ginger
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger**
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

** Keep ginger root in the freezer for easier grating, no need to thaw.  I tightly packed the grated ginger into the tablespoon, but you can try cutting back if you want less bite.

Instructions:
* Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray; set aside.
* In a large bowl combine oats, cereal and candied ginger, set aside.
* In a medium microwave-safe bowl combine molasses, agave, water and oil. Microwave 1 to 2 minutes, stirring once, or until mixture boils, watching carefully so it does not boil over. (This recipe was tested in an 850 Watt microwave, other microwave times will vary.)
* Whisk in fresh ginger, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Pour over oat mixture and toss until evenly coated. Spread onto prepared baking sheet and bake 30-35 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 


Food for Thought: "Begin today. Declare out loud to the universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through joy." -Sarah Ban Breathnach

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