My plan was to make homemade granola and put it in my breakfast yogurt.
It's 11:45. So that didn't happen.
I haven't made granola in so long I forgot the sugar and I didn't add my secret ingredient (black strap molasses). I have presented my granola in many forms on this blog so I'm only posting a photo.
But what got me completely sidetracked was homemade protein snacks... Like Larabars. Only I make balls.
The basic mix is 1 part nuts to 2 parts fruit. Typically 1 of the fruit parts is dates.
I purchased Baroody pressed and pitted dates at the Turkish store in Allentown for this project almost a month ago. It was $2.99 for 500 grams. And vacuum sealed so it was shelf stable. Not that dates ever last long enough in my house to rot.
I took about 1.5 cups raw almonds and ground them in the food processor. I placed those aside and mixed the following fruits in the food processor:
- 1/3 cup dates
- 1/2 cups raisins
- about 1/4 cup golden raisins and dried cherries
- about 1 cup dried strawberries
Now by the time this got mixed, the food processor was unhappy. So instead of putting the nuts back in with the fruit, I kneaded them into the fruit like working with bread dough.
Them I formed into balls. Golf ball size. Refriderate. About 125 calories each.
The almond-berry balls were delicious. Sweet, like candy.
ReplyDeleteThe granola, w/o sugar was terrific. I bet it's even better if you're eating it on something, rather than spooning it into your mouth! (: