Recipe Thursday - Stove Top Granola

One of the problems with only having a wood stove to cook on, or in, is that it takes a long time for the oven to heat up and the heat can be rather uneven. To combat this little problem I try to only bake once a week (unless it is really cold out side!) and the rest of the time I try to make things on top of the stove. I tried making cookies on top of the stove the other day and lets just say I will keep trying but won't be sharing until I perfect it a bit.

Granola however is a different matter. I knew it could be done as I had seen my mother do it a few times but even though I had her recipe it said nothing about using the stove top so I'm assuming she must have only done that when she was in a hurry or didn't want to wait for the oven to heat up. Now, I love granola, but then I love oatmeal too and am quite willing to eat it almost daily. Mountain Man is a different story. He has told me numerous times that he can't stand the stuff so, as he is not a breakfast person I am usually left with making it just for me.

Yesterday all of that changed. We were out of goodies! Gasp! How could that be? No cookies, no scones, no other treats! Nothing to snack on while we watched a movie! What to do? Well, guess what! He found the granola and proceeded to nibble on it. Success at last! So, in honor of that auspicious occasion I have finally discovered a granola he will eat. I couldn't care less that he uses it as a snack instead of a breakfast food just as long as he is eating it! Who knows what the future will hold in the granola category now.

It took me a bit of changing on my mom's old recipe but I finally got it to work perfectly. Her recipe only used honey as a sweetener and as a result it would rarely store without clumping together badly. By changing out some of the honey for brown sugar it now stores wonderfully and without clumping.

Skillet Granola

The ingredients

1.5 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup rye flakes (if you don't have rye flakes just add another 1/2 cup oats)
1/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I used the unsweetened but use what you have on hand)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons grape seed oil (you can use any oil or butter.I love grape seed oil as it has a high heat tolerance and has no flavor of it's own.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries

Combine fist four ingredients (oats, rye, almonds, coconut) in a bowl and set aside. Measure out vanilla, oil, sugar, honey and salt into a large heavy skillet set over a medium heat and stir together. Once the honey has melted add the oatmeal mixture you set aside.

Just added to the pan

Stir continuously over medium heat until nicely browned.

Look at that nice brown color!

Be careful not to burn it or the batch will be ruined. This can take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes depending on your heat. I can't measure the heat on my wood stove so it takes different amounts of time each time I make it. Pour out onto a cookie sheet to cool. Once cool add the raisins and store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Thank you Nourishing Gourmet and Natural Mothers Network for your wonderful blog hops!