It was an epic weekend for Two of a Kind. First, America’s Test Kitchen featured my photo of English muffin bread on Instagram and then Food52 regrammed my 12-kopeck Soviet sugar buns for pastry week. I’ll admit I was giddy. It was an unexpected PR push by two of my favorite cooking establishments.
In just two days, I welcomed more than 300 new Instagram followers – nearly doubling the size of my network. It was exciting and uplifting to see all the likes and kind comments rolling in. Foodgakwer may have put me in a funk last week, but now I was floating on cloud nine.
So, to celebrate, I cooked up a new cranola creation based on a favorite springtime treat. Carrot cake lovers, this cookie granola is for you.
Carrot Cake Cookie Granola
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut oil, room temperature
- ½ cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup white whole-wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom (optional)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup grated carrots
- 2½ cups rolled oats
Instructions
- 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.
- Add the flours, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom (if using), baking soda and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots. Then add the 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 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.
