Homemade Granola

I spent part of spring break visiting my twin sister in Chicago. We've always been co-conspirators in the kitchen, and she's always inspired me with her culinary vision. As a kindergardener, thanks to a teacher with communist enthusiasms, she developed a taste for borscht, and insisted on perfecting the recipe at home. One Christmas in high school, after reading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, she recreating a magnificent version of Mrs. Ramsay's boeuf en daube. And her various sojourns in Germany during her studies have been a source of cooking inspiration.

Now that she's in the midst of the great adventure of toddler parenthood, overly-ambitious cooking projects have to take a back burner. We cooked some family favorites like crepes, both savory and sweet, and tried this delicious pasta with sardines. But mostly what we wanted to do with our precious time together was talk. Granola-making is perfectly conducive for chatting, and with this in mind, I had brought her some Eugene Scottish oats. 

We tested out a simplified version of this granola recipe, with Scottish oats, flaxseeds, pecans, maple syrup, and olive oil. As we sat around admiring her son's confident new steps, a toasty fragrance enveloped the apartment. The final granola was delicious over yogurt as a German ex-pat breakfast. And it's so easy to cook that we both plan to make it on a regular basis. Maybe while chatting on the phone.

Granola

1 cup Scottish oats (or use rolled oats)

1/3 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup pecans (or slivered almonds)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup olive oil 
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Mix together all of the ingredients. Use parchment paper to cover a baking sheet with a rim. Spread out the oat mixture on the baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for a total of 30 to 35 minutes, stirring the oats about every 10 minutes, until they are nicely toasted. Cool and store in a glass container.