Big Wally’s Granola

Richly toasted oats, crunchy seeds, sweet coconut, and golden raisins blend together to make a granola that’s sure to brighten your morning. An older version of this tasty cereal was one of the specialties of my father-in-law Walter, or as I call him, Big Wally. Big Wally to this day makes sure that everyone who stays at his house is treated to a lovely breakfast. Cold juice, hot coffee, and specialty items from the local bakery are on regular rotation. Years ago he had a repertoire of eggs poached in milk, whole grain pancakes, hot seven grain cereal, and homemade granola that spoiled his visitors.

For his granola, he adapted a recipe in an early edition of Joy of Cooking. I was surprised that dried milk powder was among the ingredients, but the cookbook explained that combined with the oats, nuts, and seeds, it created a whole protein. While Rombauer and Becker had called for various quantities of rolled oats, wheat germ, dry milk solids, assorted nuts and seeds, Wally eliminated the need for numerous measures and changed all components to multiples of one cup.  I followed his approach.

Popeete, as the grandkids call him, made special trips to the health food store thirty years ago to find unusual items like bags of raw, shelled sunflower seeds and sesame seeds. His granola was a project—made with great care, baked slowly, and stirred frequently until it gained a deep amber hue. I remember it tinting the milk in my cereal bowl the color of honey. We enjoyed Big Wally’s granola when we visited him, but he also packed it for family trips to faraway destinations. It became a breakfast favorite and was published in the family cookbook that my mother-in-law typed up almost 30 years ago.

In revisiting Big Wally’s recipe, I decided to take some hints from Elisabeth Prueitt’s recently published cookbook Tartine All Day to make the granola gluten-free. It’s rather easy today to find gluten-free rolled oats. To replace the wheat germ in the original recipe, I used crisped rice cereal, as Prueitt does in her granola. I also borrowed her suggestion to update the oils used and chose coconut and grapeseed, although I used less than Wally had called for.

I stuck with Wally’s lower oven temperature and longer cooking time.  It’s important to stir the mixture well at regular intervals to make sure the browning is uniform. While Wally added the raisins and coconut two-thirds through, I chose to bake the coconut for only the last 15 minutes and put the raisins in after the roasting was complete.

As luck would have it, my daughter Ellen was here the day I roasted up this new version of what she calls Popeete’s granola. Together we gauged the darkness of the ingredients at each stirring and enjoyed the tempting smell coming from the oven. We remembered lots of family gatherings in years past and the joy that Big Wally—or Popeete—brought to the breakfast table.

Big Wally's Granola - 21st Century Version

Sunnyside Cook

Dawn Dobie

Roasted oats, almonds, seeds, coconut and raisins start the day the best way.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Ingredients

  

• 5 cups rolled oats (I used gluten-free)
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup unsalted raw shelled sunflower seeds
• 1 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup whole-grain crisped rice cereal
• 1 cup powdered milk
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup shredded or flaked coconut (I used unsweetened)
• 1 cup raisins (I used golden)
• 1 cup honey
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup grapeseed oil

Instructions

 

• Prepare two large jelly roll pans by lining with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
• Using a large bowl, mix together the oats, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, rice cereal, and powdered milk.
• Combine the honey and two oils in a small pan and place over low heat on the stove. Stir until the coconut oil is liquefied.
• Pour the honey and oil combination over the oat mixture. Use a large spoon to turn the ingredients over and over, distributing the wet ingredients throughout the dry ingredients as thoroughly as possible.
• Transfer granola mixture to cookie sheets and spread to thickness of 1/2 inch.
• Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, stir well—moving pieces that have been on outer rim to inside of pan—and then return to oven.
• Bake for 15 more minutes. Remove from oven and add coconut. Stir well—again moving pieces that have been on outer rim to inside of pan—and then return to oven.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir well.
• Bake for 5-10 more minutes. Remove from oven, stir, and allow to cool. Add raisins.

Notes

Yields 12 cups.
Will keep for 3 weeks in an airtight container.
Other dried fruit may be substituted for the raisins. Other seeds or nuts may be substituted according to taste.

Adapted from Big Wally