Kotty's Granola

Kotty makes a double batch of this recipe every week. The recipe is Kotty's version of the granola Ann Mrowicki (the baker at Putney) made when Kotty was in boarding school, with the help of Lora Brody's Granola recipe (not her Simple Granola recipe, which uses vanilla... I've never tried this, but it sounds worth checking out) from her book, The Kitchen Survival Guide: A Hand-Holding Kitchen Primer with 130 Recipes to Get You Started. All quantities not in bold are estimates... it's really a matter of what looks to you like it'll taste good.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine in large bowl:

• 2 cups quick oats (not instant or old fashioned -- but bigger flakes are better)
• 6 tbsp raisins (essential -- you'll see why below)
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds (essential -- these are what makes it "Kotty's" granola)
• 3 tbsp currants - optional
• ¼ cup sliced (not slivered) almonds - blanched or not (I consider these to be essential as well, but I guess they're not really as essential as the sesame seeds or the raisins)
• 6 tbsp dates dry (bread) - not a block - chopped and coated with oil (below) to keep them from sticking together... if you can get dry pre-chopped dates (Sunmaid makes them), do
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• ½ tsp sesame or hazelnut oil - optional (add this to the canola oil before pouring it over the dry ingredients to make sure it is evenly distributed)

Separate sticky ingredients from each other and stir until oil is distributed.
Add:

• ½ cup brown sugar

Stir thoroughly to make sure you get all the lumps out of the brown sugar.
Sprinkle:

• 1 tbsp water (ceremonial)

Stir.
Spread on cookie sheet to ½ inch thick -- less if you like super crunchy granola, more if you like your granola soft. Bake until the raisins have swollen up like a tick on a dog -- about 20 to 25 minutes, but keep your eye on it -- and remove from the oven immediately. Do not wait until there are black or dark brown spots on the raisins. Overcooked granola is very difficult to chew and some people find it more effort than it's worth. Turn over (stir) and return to oven until raisins plump again -- 5 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool, stirring occasionally, before storing. If you like clumps, don't stir while cooling.

Other dried fruit may be added:

• Dried cranberries.
• Dried apricots (chopped).
• Dry cereal.
• Chopped prunes.

Keep the total amount of fruit about as shown (this is really a matter of taste). Don't put too many fine ingredients... they settle to the bottom. If you want clumpier granola, you can experiment using molasses or honey to sweeten instead of brown sugar, but I haven't had much success with this.

Eat with (sour) yogurt (green Astro or Nancy's) or milk. Francis eats his with flavoured Astro.

Recording the recipe in BeamBooks.

Adding the currants.

Adding the oil.

Putting the granola in the pan to bake.