Recipe: Granola Cookies

Growing up, I loved watching Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade show on the Food Network. Does anyone remember that show? Her cooking style is so smart: you don’t have to make everything from scratch. By adding fresh ingredients to store-brought items, you are still creating your own dishes, hence semi-homemade. That’s actually how I prefer to cook.

I recently had granola cookies at La Boulangerie in San Francisco, and I was obsessed. I love foods with texture and these cookies were crunchy and nutty. I decided to make my own, but of course, the semi-homemade way.

For this recipe, I used three different kinds of granola from My Favorite Indulgence: classic almond, chocolate mocha, and maple cinnamon. I divided my cookie dough into three parts and mixed in each granola separately. The recipe below makes 6 huge cookies or 12 regular size ones.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (more or less depending on your granola’s sweetness)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cup pre-made granola
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine butter, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla extract in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, then mix together.
4. Add granola (and chocolate chips) to the dough.
5. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or baking spray.
6. Divide dough to 6 or 12 parts and space evenly on cookie sheet.
7. Baked for 12-15 minutes. Large cookies may need 2-3 more minutes.

I would say my first batch of granola cookies came out well. Next time I’ll add more granola and nuts to them!