GRANOLA COOKIES with CHERRIES & WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS ~ Tuesdays With Dorie
Tuesdays With Dorie ~ White Chocolate & Cherry Granola Cookies
Michelle of Bad Girl Baking has chosen Granola Grabbers for this weeks recipe. It was good to bake something totally different this week. Not that I haven't enjoyed the past recipes. I have. But it's always nice to have some homemade cookies around.
Dorie Greenspan's recipe, Granola Grabbers can be found on page 82 of her book, "Baking: From My Home To Yours", or you can click on over to Michelle's blog to get it there.
Just simple ingredients
My favorite cookie scoops
Milk & Cookies!
John had no idea Granola Cookies were on the menu until he got home and saw the stack warm out of my Easy-Bake-Oven. Boy, did that put a smile on his face! I knew what was coming next as he asked me, "Did you remember to get milk today?" Guys with Milk & Cookies! Do they ever grow up?
What a Messy Job! See all the boats behind me?
Bear Naked Granola
The recipe was easy and straightforward, giving us the choice to either make our own granola or use store bought granola. Since I only have one small rack in my EB-Oven, I decided to buy a bag of America's biggest granola sweethearts - Bear Naked Granola! This huge granola company was started by Brendan Synnott and Kelly Flatley - two middle school friends - who met in 1990 at the ages of 11 in Darien Connecticut. Fast forward to 2002 and they meet again after Kelly starts making granola in her parents kitchen. Brendan joins her and the rest is history! You can read the rest of their awesome story here!
Look! A Ladybug came to visit! Can you see her?
Honeymoon Kitchens
We moved from NH to Pennsylvania way back in 1993 for a 2 1/2 month stint.We needed a change, but knew we'd never give up the foodie life after many years of commercial baking. We moved two HUGE trucks full of all our stuff AND our baking equipment - convection oven, 30 quart mixer, 20 quart mixer, 10 burner range with two ovens, proof boxes, pie press, stainless steel tables, you get the picture! We had a feeling that if anything happened to the job market, we could always fall right back into baking. And we did!
Honeymoon Kitchens Granola is Born!
The first thing we did was to make the granola I had been making since I was 19, some hmmmm years ago! It was made with honey and the best ingredients money could buy. If we could afford organic, that's what we used. We called the business "HONEYMOON KITCHENS" because we made everything with honey and we baked by the light of the moon...sometimes way into the night! John and our son John made the granola by the mega-pounds. We made so much that we had standing racks, 20 trays deep, chock full of 18"x24" size sheet trays of Honey Raisin Nut Granola. Then I made the granola into Granola Bars. We packaged them and sold them in many health food stores around the area. When we moved to Vermont in 1996, we again moved all our commercial equipment with us and started selling again to health food stores from Middlebury to Burlington and beyond. To this day, our 30 year old son John still makes large batches of granola by the sheet full.
Honey Raisin Nut Granola & Suite101.com
My original Honey Raisin & Nut Granola recipe can be found here, at Suite101.com. I'm sending you there for it because they have the electronic rights to the recipe for now. I'm under contract with them and it's a copyrighted recipe. When you get there, feel free to use the recipe and go to the bottom of the page and hit the "print article" button. When you're done with that, click to an earlier post of mine that goes on and on about my Honeymoon Kitchens Granola, then shoot on over to Stampin' Mama (that's my daughter, Erika) for a really easy and creative way to use the granola and make it into an awesome Trail Mix complete with M & M's! Then, if you're a stamper or paper crafter, she'll show you how to make a real groovy, crunchy-granola, tree-hugging package to gift it in! Your friends will love you!
Isn't this a crunchy-granola container?
What I Did Differently:
So, to finish up, I made these cookies with sliced almonds (instead of peanuts), dried cherries (instead of raisins) and Ghirardelli white chocolate chips. I think Dorie's oven temperature is too high for these cookies, so I turned it down to 350 and it worked out perfectly. The secret to getting perfectly shaped and uniform cookies, is to use a spring-loaded cookie scoop (some people call it an ice cream scoop). Either way, your cookies will come out looking totally round and professional looking!
So, here's your To-Do list:
- Enter my cookbook give-away for Pizza On The Grill by midnight 8/19 EST.
- Check out Michelle's blog for the Granola Grabbers recipe, or page 82 in Dorie's book.
- Click on the link for Bear Naked Granola to read Kelly & Brandon's rise to fame story.
- Check out my Suite101 link for Honeymoon Kitchen's Honey Raisin & Nut Granola.
- Read my earlier post about Erika and my Bake It, Make It & Take It projects.
- Shoot over to Stampin' Mama's blog for Trail Mix ideas and also for her How-To packaging directions.
- And last but not least, check out Tuesdays With Dorie for more TWD baker's blogroll!
- Get back to me and let me know what you think of my granola and Erika's Trail Mix, K?
See, you get a two-fer or maybe even a three-fer with this deal! And a plate of cookies and milk! Cool, huh?
I would love to try these with dried cherries next time. And you're right... your cookies are perfectly formed!
Posted by: Bria | August 19, 2008 at 12:59 AM
WOWIE!! Granola cookies made and discussed by a granola queen!! What luck for the rest of us, this week! I love that shot of your cookie dough-ed hand with boats in the background. Much different than the way my hand looked, in Manhattan. :)
Posted by: Lori | August 19, 2008 at 04:03 AM
Looks great! I am always amazed by how much you can do on that boat! :)
Posted by: Sarah | August 19, 2008 at 04:51 AM
It just never ends with your blog. I am running out of towels because I am constantly having to wipe the drool off my keyboard and my mouth!!! I saved your granola recipe and will make it someday--probaby cutting it in half. Thanks for visiting with me today via your blog.
Cheryl
Posted by: Cheryl Sims | August 19, 2008 at 05:13 AM
Those cookies are just beautiful. I got a tad messy making them myself.
Posted by: Jules | August 19, 2008 at 06:46 AM
yum, thanks for the recipe link! your cookies look perfect (and i used white choc too :) )
Posted by: kim | August 19, 2008 at 08:28 AM
Two-fer? Three-fer? This is like a dozen-fer! That story is too cool, I'm jealous that you could do baking as a profession. Beautiful cookies.
Posted by: Caitlin | August 19, 2008 at 08:35 AM
Wow!!! These look perfect. A gold medal! The granola looks so yummy. Thanks for the recipe!
Posted by: foodlibrarian | August 19, 2008 at 09:23 AM
Granola cookies looks so great - what a healthy treat... These would be tasty with dried cranberries and maybe for sure the white chocolate as well - Great pictures as well.
Posted by: Cathy - wheresmydamnanswer | August 19, 2008 at 09:23 AM
I love ladybugs! Your cookies look yummy. Might have to give your granola recipe a whirl sans raisins. Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
Posted by: CB | August 19, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Wonderful job! They look very yummy!
Love all your pictures!
Posted by: Hannah | August 19, 2008 at 01:59 PM
I love Bear Naked--- I can't wait to read how they came about! Those look fantastic! It looks like even the ladybugs can't resist!
Posted by: Teanna | August 20, 2008 at 06:13 AM
Your cookies look perfect! I am sure they tasted great! Thanks for link to your granola recipe. This is a great snack for the girls to bring to school (with no peanuts). Did I say school? YAY - only 1 week to go. Of course, I meant the girls are happy to go back - I will miss them terribly (she said with a wink).
Posted by: Liliana | August 20, 2008 at 06:22 AM
Your cookies are perfect...you're the kitchen goddess! I love the picture of your hand covered in batter!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog
Posted by: Shari | August 21, 2008 at 03:11 PM
Hmmmm...I love white chocolate and cherries, what great additions to a great cookie!
Posted by: Mari | August 21, 2008 at 03:48 PM
I made the cookies. Didn't use the cherries, though. Used raisins cause I had them in the granola already. Added white Choc. Chips and semi sweet, a little of each. They came out Awesome! Definitely will make again!!! Thanks for the recipe!
Posted by: Cindy King | August 22, 2008 at 03:22 PM
I am looking for the white chocolate and cherry granola cookie recipe. I can't seem to find it, what am I doing wrong? It is probably right here in front of my face. Please help.
Posted by: Lisa | August 30, 2008 at 07:06 AM