The Formulaic Secret to the Best Granola, a recipe
I stumbled upon the secret to the best granola many years ago, when I subbed out clarified butter for the coconut oil in the My New Roots Chunky Chocolate Buckwheat Granola recipe. Something about the combination of clarified butter with healthier sugars like coconut sugar and honey, plus the cinnamon, just creates magic! There's a caramelization happening between the toasty clarified butter and the coconut sugar that makes this granola really addictive. It's not low in calories - it's definitely a treat! But it's a really delicious treat with lots of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals.
In the past I've used coconut sugar, but this time around I used powdered piloncillo. Both work beautifully, and yield very similar results!
So... In the title I promised a formula to the best granola. And as I described above it's all about the fat and the sugar. So I'd say, with whatever nutty and oaty ingredients you want in your granola, use roughly:
800 grams of dry ingredients + 1/3 cup dry healthy sugar + 1/3 cup clarified butter + 1/3 cup healthy liquid sweetener
When adding dried fruit, it's often best to add it in after baking, as there's so much sugar in the fruit that it will likely burn in the bake. You can try adding it in the middle of the bake, when you do your 1 and only stir of the granola.
Browned Butter Caramelized Honey Granola Recipe
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