This week Tuesdays With Dorie has a Rewind week, which means we could choose any previously chosen recipe. We were also later told we had permission to post later in the week, in order to bake for Thanksgiving. I had already baked and photographed my selection by the time this announcement was made (and had my Thanksgiving desserts planned). I hadn’t written my post, though, and was happy to have one less thing on my to-do list before the holiday break started. The recipe I selected was Granola Grabbers! Not very seasonal (the photo in the book shouts back-to-school fall recipe), but I had wanted to try these cookies forever. I hadn’t because I knew that this is exactly the type of cookie I love and that Josh “forgets” about and I try to not be the one who consumes the majority of the cookies in this house. In fact, as I was making them, I tried to think of another name that did not involve the world granola that might make them sound more enticing. I didn’t come up with anything. And I was totally right: I have eaten way more of them.
These cookies are packed not only with granola, but also additional nuts and raisins. They are pleasantly sweet and very hearty. They kind of remind me of Kellog’s granola, which I like but never buy anymore. I rated them an 8 for Deliciousness (Josh gave them a 7) and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR of 4. You can find the recipe here and visit the TWD site to see what everyone else selected this week.
I remember one time when I was young smelling something absolutely incredible baking and I was positive my mom was making some delicious cookies. It turned out to be granola, and we were so disappointed that my mom actually did make some cookies. Luckily I have grown to like granola and was happy when Cherry Almond Granola was chosen for this week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday recipe. And it’s a good thing I like granola, ‘cos this recipe makes a TON.
Three nearly full eight-cup containers! Fortunately, granola lends well to sharing: I gave one container to Josh’s parents and I made Melissa’s Granola Breakfast Cookies to bring to work tomorrow. The group made the cookies a long time ago, but I used store-bought granola and added peanut butter, so I figured this was a good opportunity to make them properly. The cookies, as well as the granola, are outstanding. I think granola is a fun thing to make; once you have a good basic recipe, you can just go down the bulk food aisle and throw in whatever dried fruits and nuts strike your fancy. I actually like all the ingredients in Melissa’s original recipe, but I subbed dried apricots for golden raisins, since golden raisins + currants just seemed too raisiny for me.
In addition to being tasty, this is also such a simple recipe. You have to stir it every fifteen minutes, so it’s the perfect thing to bake on a lazy afternoon or when you have other kitchen projects. I rated the granola an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 3.2. Thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for an excellent selection. You can find the recipe here on Wendy’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see how the rest of the group fared this week.
Since we’re on the topic of granola, I must share something I saw in my local market recently: a $28.99 bag (24 ounces) of granola! It’s a local company and made with organic ingredients, but my goodness! It is a bit more reasonably priced on the company’s website.
This week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday recipe was Granola Breakfast Cookies. I am a big fan of any cookie you can justify eating for breakfast, so I was looking forward to making these. I am habitually in a huge rush on weekday mornings and require portable (and neat) food to eat on my commute. My typical breakfast is a Luna Bar, and sadly, since the salmonella outbreak earlier this year, my favorite peanut butter flavored ones have been unavailable. I decided to take this as an occasion to turn this into a peanut butter breakfast cookie. 
I added a half-cup of peanut butter to the cookies, added an extra quarter cup of flour, and a handful of peanut butter chips and chopped peanuts. The recipe said that the cookies should be chewy, but probably due to my hasty additions, they were rather crumbly. I liked them that way, though, so it worked out fine. I loved that you could really taste the honey flavor in the cookies, since I feel like it is something that often gets overpowered by other ingredients. I have to confess that the dough was so yummy I ate a little more than I should. Thus far a lot of the Sweet Melissa recipes have involved making extra goodies - brownies for a cake, orange peel for biscotti, granola for cookies - if you have the time and inclination (you can also easily purchase them). I think it’s fun to have the opportunity to make multiple treats, but this week, despite having a long weekend, I was a little short on kitchen time, so I opted for store-bought granola, which worked out fine.
I gave this recipe a 7.5 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 3.75. Many thanks to Jessica of A Singleton in the Kitchen for giving us SMS/TWD bakers a break from rich desserts and selecting this great cookie. You can find the recipe on Jessica’s site, and see what the other bakers thought via the Sweet Melissa Sundays site.
