All I want to do is bake, eat and blog about cranola, which certainly isn’t a good thing for the sustainability or readership of this blog. (Right?) I suppose I could have shared with you my attempt at Bon Appétit’s Ginger-Miso-Glazed Eggplant or The Noodle Guy’s (dang spicy) Dan Dan Noodles, which I made for dinner this past Saturday – but that idea went out the window as soon as I sampled my new cranola creation, inspired by the classic flavor combination of lemon and poppy seed.
Please forgive my current cookie granola fixation. The problem with cranola is that once you get a taste, there’s no turning back. Last year, I made 15 batches in three months – for my personal consumption. I couldn’t stop. It became an addiction.
Then one day it hit me how much cookie dough I had consumed as a result of my cranola eating – so I stopped cold turkey. That was a little over five months ago and it seems my craving has returned. I’m already on my second batch in one week.
To ease my conscience, I’ve taken a slightly healthier approach with this citrusy cranola recipe, using just enough coconut oil and a blend of white and whole-wheat flour in the cookie dough base to keep it light and crunchy. (You won’t notice the missing fat – trust me.) And if you look closely, you’ll see I’ve swapped in chia for the poppy seeds. Stick around, and I promise to deliver more diverse recipes.
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons white whole-wheat flour
- 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2½ cups rolled oats
- 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 vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Add the flours, cornstarch, baking soda and salt and mix until just combined. Then add the chia seeds and oats and stir with a wooden spoon. When the ingredients start to come together, use your hands to continue mixing until all the oats 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 5-10 minutes until clumps are dry.
- 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.
