Tag Archives: Maple syrup

Homemade Granola

The inspiration behind making my own homemade granola: spotting a $1.99 bag of coconut flakes in Trader Joe’s this weekend. First of all, do you know how delicious coconut flakes are all on their own? The second these were spotted, my friend Stevie told me how they would be perfect in granola. What a brilliant friend I have!
So I bought a bag and was told that Sunny Anderson’s granola was a fantastic recipe to go off of. But, if I’m going to make some homemade granola, I’m going to make it with the ingredients I love most. Inspired by Sunny’s recipe, I took the base of her granola and molded into my own personal Happy Trails granola combo.

homemade granola recipe

Here’s how I made it:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  2. On the stove, heat up 1/4 cup vegetable oil + 1/2 cup maple syrup (the good stuff, folks. no Aunt Jemima crap) + 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Whisk these 3 ingredients together just until they start to bubble. Remove from stove and let cool
  3. In a mixing bowl, stir together 3 cups rolled oats + 1/4 dark brown sugar + a pinch or two of salt +1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  4. Once cooled, pour the vegetable oil/maple syrup/cinnamon combo over top of the mixing bowl ingredients. Be sure to mix these well.
  5. In a small bowl whisk together 2 egg whites and pour over top of the other ingredients. Mix all ingredients well.
  6. Spread the granola out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
  7. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and flip the oats. Repeat this 4 times. This will take a total of 40 minutes.
  8. Remove granola from the oven and let the ingredients cool.
  9. Once cooled, add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries + 1/4 cup coconut flakes to the mixture.

If you want more flavor — here are a few other fabulous ingredient ideas: dried banana chips, dried mango (for a summer-time granola), slivered almonds instead of walnuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and honey. And if you have a massive sweet tooth — throw in some chocolate chunks!

This granola on top of just regular plain yogurt is to-die-for! But of course it tastes fabulous on raspberry yogurt too!

Jane Restaurant, Vanilla Bean French Toast

Usually on the weekends I cook breakfast for my boyfriend and me. Brunch on the weekends is such a big deal to so many people here in New York City — and I have to admit, I once took part in the obnoxious weekly brunch ritual during the first summer I spent in Manhattan. Brunch typically means you get to the restaurant anywhere between 11 a.m. and 1 or even 2 p.m. It consists of eating a meal that will fill you up so much you won’t have dinner until 10 p.m. And of course so many people will typically pick their brunch location based on their cocktail specials. Some restaurants offer all-you-can drink specials and I will admit I have enjoyed my $10 flat fee for all-you-can drink mimosas. And when you are ordering off of an all-you-can drink menu, most likely that means brunch could last a few hours long.

But now that I have a full-time job, I prefer to use my weekend days to run errands, catch up with friends, clean my apartment, and exercise — lets admit it, I wouldn’t be able to get any of that stuff done if brunch alone took up 3 or 4 hours of my day.

So we usually make breakfast at home. I take that back, I make breakfast/brunch for us at home. My boyfriend can pick from a few items for breakfast because it’s usually items that we already have in the apartment. Omelettes, pancakes, french toast — those are a few of the basics.

But the other weekend, my boyfriend’s parents came into town so we took them out to Jane Restaurant for brunch. Everyone ordered lunch food since it was closer to that time of day. But we ordered the Vanilla Bean French Toast for an appetizer for us all to share. Let me just say, it was a big hit! The brioche bread was clearly soaking in the creme brulee batter and the bread was so light and fluffy it was like biting into cotton candy. And of course the syrup was only the best. Vermont maple syrup — so fresh it brought back childhood memories from when I lived in New Hampshire.

Speaking of syrup… There’s only one type of syrup that everyone should be buying at the store. And it’s the real stuff — when I say “real stuff” I mean everyone should be buying actual maple syrup and not the Aunt Jemima bullshit. I’m sorry but that crap is so thick and globby the texture is more like glue than it is syrup. The first time I ever had Aunt Jemima syrup was when I was 12 years old and I was invited to a sleepover (this was in Pennsylvania, not long after we moved from New Hampshire). I poured it over my pancakes, took one bite, chewed, swallowed and then pushed my plate to the side. Ick. Gross. Gag-me. Who the heck feeds kids this crap?

I know that the “real” maple syrup in the grocery store can cost an arm and a leg, but I promise you it will transform your breakfast! Also, you really have no need to drown your food in it either, you’ll probably use half the amount of real syrup than you would the fake stuff. Make the change, you won’t regret it.

Jane Restaurant was so packed even in the early afternoon, the wait outside was about 2 hours long. But the worth is definitely worth it!