Strawberry Granola

Pinterest can be a dangerous place for DIYers and the curious in general. I saw oven-dried strawberries, and found myself curious enough to try making them over Easter weekend. If the experiment succeeded I planned to make granola with them since strawberries are a particular favorite of my husband.

The first batch I attempted was made with a 1 lb. package of strawberries from a local farm stand. I did succeed in making my fruit completely dry, but I’m not going to lie about the yield. I got half a cup. I don’t consider the experiment a fail because I still got something that suits the end purpose, but I decided to save my precious local strawberries for fresh eating.

Before I go into an explanation of my solution, this is how I dried the fresh strawberries. I lined a rimmed half-size baking sheet with parchment paper. It not only keeps a sticky mess off your bake ware, it helps absorb some of the moisture. Instead of quartering, the berries were cut into 3-4 slices, 5-6 if they were large. Aim for the slices to be less than ¼” thick and be consistent as possible for even drying. Spread them around on the pan without touching. I have an oven with a convection fan, and I used it for this application. The directions I followed suggested 210°. Convection ovens will adjust themselves to be 25° cooler than conventional. I wanted 210° with the fan so I set my temp at 235°. The aim was to have dry fruit within 3 hrs. I checked it after 1.5 hrs. If smaller pieces were dry I removed them to a glass measuring cup. I made a point of rotating the pan when returning to the oven. At the 3 hr. mark the fruit was checked again. Don’t panic if some aren’t completely dry. Leave the oven closed, turn it off, and keep the fruit in it until cool.

Now, for the second batch… I used frozen strawberries. The actual drying directions are the same. However, there is step which must be completed before attempting oven drying. Place the strawberries in a fine mesh strainer, and put the strainer in a larger bowl. Allow the fruit to defrost overnight in your refrigerator. Frozen strawberries release a lot of liquid. You might get as much as a cup. (Save it for later.) Defrosted strawberries are very soft. You will need to cut them into quarters. They won’t be food magazine pretty before or after drying. But it won’t matter if they are put in something like granola, or you just don’t care about snacking on photo-ready food. Drying frozen fruit also works on blueberries. Leave whole and put into the oven while still frozen. Follow the same instruction for strawberries.

In case you google this process and find directions calling for salt, you won’t hurt my feelings if you try them instead. I didn’t use salt. Ours is a salt-conscious household, and it’s already in the granola recipe I use.

My favorite granola recipe originally came from Alton Brown. You can find it here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe/index.html. It’s easy to tweek. As a matter of fact, I’ve never made it exactly as written. It’s mostly a reference for quantities, to keep everything balanced.

Without further ado, here is the Strawberry Granola recipe.

3/4 teaspoon salt

½ c. strawberry juice (You can sweeten to taste before measuring and adding to granola)

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup almond pieces

1 cup pecans

3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

1 cup dried strawberries (or ½ c. each strawberries and blueberries)

½ c. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 250°.

I don’t get fancy or use separate bowls. The juice and salt go into the bowl first. After the salt dissolves, all ingredients except the fruit and chocolate are added. Stir until everything is mixed and well coated with the juice. Line 2 rimmed half baking sheets with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray. Divide the granola between the pans, spread evenly across and spray again with the oil. Baking time is 1 hr., 15 min. If you’re like me and multi-task while baking, set the timer for 45 min. At that time give the contents of each pan a good stir and switch them to the opposite rack. Bake for 30 min. Allow the granola to cool, place in your favorite container, and stir in the fruit/chocolate. Enjoy it however you like. (In your breakfast bowl, on yogurt, as a snack…)

This granola is now my husband’s hands-down favorite (even over the chocolate-cherry I’ve made.) I must say it smells absolutely divine while baking. It just might be worth drying some fruit first.

The Project Queen