Sesame Orange Granola

The brutally cold weather, compounded with the fact that there was absolutely nothing to watch on TV, compelled me to make a long overdue trip to my local library last week where I discovered a treasure trove of cookbooks just waiting to be read.

This is fantastic if you are anything like me and already own a bunch of cookbooks and don't need to buy more. It is a great way of taking a sneak peak at some of the new and interesting cookbooks out there, plus check out some of the old classics as well. I hope the cookbook authors don't mind.

I found such an assortment of interesting cookbooks that I checked out so many I could barely lug them all home. I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself!

That evening I snuggled up with a cup of hot tea and read two of them straight through like novels. I do that sometimes, read cookbooks straight through like novels.

Then I became so inspired that I got up from the sofa and whipped up Art Smith's Sesame Orange Granola. It was the perfect snack to sustain my kids while they traipsed across a bitter cold college campus the following day. Oddly enough, I had most of the ingredients on hand.

I found the recipe in The 150 Best American Recipes: Indispensable Dishes from Legendary Chefs and Undiscovered Cooks, and it had such a tantalizing assortment of tasty looking dishes, that I may eventually have to buy it.

The granola was a slightly salty, slightly sweet combination of shredded coconut, maple syrup, orange zest, old-fashioned rolled oats, sliced almonds, cashews, sesame seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried cranberries and honey.

Time for me to go now, I've got more cookbooks to peruse.

Anyone else out there love the library as much as I do?

Note: If any of my loyal readers - Thank you, Linda and Marie(!) - or anyone else for that matter would like a recipe, feel free to post a message and I'll be happy to send one.

... Just so happens Marie's son is a marathon runner and needs some granola. I have a feeling it would take more than granola to get me to run 26.2 miles. Hope this helps, Marie(!).

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I decreased the amount of orange zest from 2 to 1 because that's all I had on hand, and it tasted plenty orangy to me. Also, I didn't have a full cup of sliced almonds, so again, I made do with what I had. And the biggest change I made was adding a good pinch of sea salt. I am not a big salt eater, but the recipe tasted a little flat to me. And I often buy this terriffic locally made granola that has a salty, sweet thing going on, and I wanted to replicate that. I couldn't say if this is reallly the best granola recipe, since I really haven't tried that many. But the cranberries were a perfect choice and we've already eaten the entire batch, so I guess it was a hit.

Sesame Orange Granola

Adapted from Back to the Table by Art Smith

1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
Grated zest of 1 large orange
4 cups old-fashioned (rolled) oats
1 cup (4 ounces) sliced almonds
1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely chopped unsalted cashews
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 cup chopped dried fruit , such as cranberries, dates, apples, or apricots, or a combination.

Directions: Position racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 375°F.

Spread the coconut on a baking sheet. Bake on the center rack, stirring often, until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Bring the oil, maple syrup, and orange zest to a boil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Place the oats, almonds, cashews, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sesame seeds in bowl with coconut.

Add the syrup mixture and mix (or toss with 2 large spoons) until well coated.

Spread in 1/2-inch layers on 2 large baking sheets.

Bake, stirring often, switching the positions of the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the granola is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven - and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt if you like - then cool. Pour into bowl with coconut and dried fruit and mix together. (The granola can be stored at room temperature in airtight containers for up to 1 month.)