Lately, my kitchen has been brimming with fruit. Whether it’s plums from my parents’ backyard or produce from the grocery store, I can’t get enough of the season’s best offerings.
But one can only eat so many blueberries, cherries, peaches, strawberries and watermelon in salads or alone. So why not try this new cranola creation? It features fresh fruit purée in the dough, similar to the raspberry coconut cookie granola I dreamed up a few months ago. Sprinkle it atop yogurt and sliced fruit or eat it straight from the jar.
Strawberry Peach Cookie Granola
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 large strawberries, hulled and halved
- ¼ medium peach, peeled
- 1 cup white whole-wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups rolled oats
- ½ cup sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the coconut oil and sugar on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and almond extract and beat until well combined.
- In a food processor, purée strawberries and peach; add to sugar mixture and beat until well combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until just combined. Then add the oats and sliced almonds and stir with a wooden spoon. When the ingredients start to come together, use your hands to continue mixing until all the oats and almonds are covered with dough.
- Squeeze off chunks of dough and loosely break them apart over the baking sheet, creating large clumps.
- Bake the cranola for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and stir gently. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, remove from the oven and stir gently. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until clumps are dry. (Because this dough is a bit stickier than usual, it takes longer to cook.)
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cranola cool completely. It will harden as it cools.
- Store cranola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, if it lasts that long.
