Granola

Some people, like my friend Ellen and my parents, love "my" granola and want me to make it for them as housewarming presents and Christmas presents and Spring Solstice presents... while other people say "Eh, it's granola," or in other words, they're all the same. In any case, my granola is really Mollie Katzen's Very Crunchy Granola, and the recipe can be taken from her website. All I do to change it is reduce the oil content and soy protein content, reduce the almonds a bit to make it cheaper, leave out the brown sugar, and set the oven 25-40 degrees lower so I don't burn it. I add 1/2-2/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, which add fat to the granola, and I can't really taste a coconut flavor, but the granola isn't as good without the coconut. I suspect I wouldn't need the cooler oven if it weren't for the coconut, which burns easily. The more coconut I use, the cooler I have to set the oven.

I wrote all that down for Ellen, whose head was spinning from the simplicity of my alterations to the recipe. She ate the granola I left her, and then she made her own, and it didn't taste the same. She called me and told me, and I realized I had a secret ingredient. Of course I promptly spilled the beans: Instead of using raw pumpkin seeds, I make the granola with tamari pumpkin seeds, which are greasy and salty and extremely tasty.