Wednesday 12 December 2007

Reindeer Food





Reindeer Food (AKA Maple Cinnamon Granola)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups porridge oats
½ cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup dried cranberries (sweetened)

Pre-heat the oven to 300
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, mix thoroughly and place in a single layer on a non-stick baking try ( if you don’t have non-stick then you will need to grease the baking tray with butter or oil). Place in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Every 5 minutes you will need to open the oven door and stir the granola mixture. Cool and add the raisins and dried cranberries.

The granola can be eaten on its own, or with milk for breakfast, sprinkled over yogurt or ice-cream, and of course left out on a dish for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve.
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A little help for those who don't use cups as measurments. Oh and for the record I just use normal everyday teaspoon and tablespoons for measurments, less hassel than attemting to locate the measuring ones. Which I think have migrated to H's toy box.
U.S. to Metric Conversion Table

1/5 teaspoon = 1 ml
1 teaspoon = 5 ml
1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1 fluid oz. = 30 ml
1/5 cup = 50 ml
1/4 cup = 60 ml
1/2 cup = 120 ml
1 cup = 240 ml
2 cups (1 pint) = 470 ml
4 cups (1 quart) = .95 liter
4 quarts (1 gal.) = 3.8 liters

I hope that its of some help.
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Cooks Notes: The recipe is mine based on several granola recipes that I found on the Internet and was quite disgusted by the amount of salt, and veg table oil used in them. In the end I ignored the recipes I had found and experimented with what I thought of as Christmas-y tastes: dried cranberries, cinnamon and brown sugar. It smelled Devine and tasted great, I kept nibbling on it as i added the dried fruit and baked the second half of the batch. I gave the jar to Frizbe as her DD1 helped make it with H. They had fun mixing it and especially that it was edible and reindeer food at the same. A lot better than the kind made with glitter.

5 comments:

Annie B said...

fab - will try this. one question - do you know of any easy (online would be great) conversion table from cups to grams or ounces?

Apryl said...

waitrose has one.. and recipezaar too i think. i have one somewhere but don't know where.. sorry I'm American, been here 7 years and still don't get the weighing things out to cook think. give me cups and spoons.

Shirley said...

Oh I think I'll have to try this. dd is almost 3 & this year has been talking non-stop Santa for weeks - ask her what she wants him to bring her & she says a present. A present? That'll soon change - next year I'll get handed the ELC catalogue & a typewritten list ;0)

Can I just ask - when it says cups what sort of size are we talking millilitre-wise?

Apryl said...

I've added a conversion table to the main posting. But I must admit I would be lost without a good measuring cup, most cooking shops have them, and its so much quicker than weighing everything. and I normally just use a regular teaspoon and tablespoon for my silverware to cook with.

let me know if you try it and it work out!

Frizbe said...

Can confirm it tastes great :-) dd1 is even wanting to eat granola now :-O