Gluten-Free Granola Brittle

 Tray of Cooling Brittle

Most of recipe flops are just that flops. Once in a while, however, I make something that wasn't what I intended but is delicious nonetheless. (Remember the crispy chocolate chip cookies? They were supposed to be chewy chocolate chip cookies. The cookies weren't chewy but they were good!)

I've been working on a recipe for chewy granola bars. It seems chewy is a challenge for me! I attempted granola bars and instead ended up with an addictive granola dessert. How did this happen? Glad you asked!

Since I was going for bars, I had patted my unbaked granola mixture into a 9x13-inch pan. What came out of the oven looked good! Then I let it cool...

Once the granola cooled, it stuck to the pan. And not "sort of stuck". It seemed to merge with the pan. Yogis talk about becoming one with the universe; my cooled granola became one with the pan. Since I could not get the granola out of the pan, I threw it back into a warm oven to loosen the sugar.

When it came out, I scraped the warm granola onto a baking sheet. I was going to allow it to cool before I tossed it. (Note, I am not usually one to waste food. However, I have to toss flops or my friends and I would weight 3,000 pounds.) Before I pitched it, I pinched off a piece and tried it. Then I grabbed another. Then another. Then another. WOW! This granola was GOOD!

Later that day, I was chatting with my mom. The granola was on the table and she started munching on it. Between you and I, it seemed like it was hard for her to stop! Then, my lovely friend Jessica stopped over. She said, after one bite, "This is like magic granola brittle."

And Jess nailed it! Since I was attempting to make a sweet granola bar, I used more sugar than you'd traditionally find in a granola recipe. When the sugar cooked, it caramelized on the oats creating a wonderful, well, granola brittle. And since I love, love, love peanut brittle, it was no surprise that I fell in love with this granola.

I re-attempted the recipe. This time, I poured the unbaked granola onto a sheet pan. The result was good but it wasn't as "Oh my! Gimme more!" as the version I'd baked in the 9x13-pan. For my next attempt, I put the granola back into the 9x13-pan. As soon as it came out of the oven, I used a spatula to transfer it to a large cookie sheet. When it cooled, I broke it apart with my fingers. Perfection!

Piece of Granola Brittle. Yum!

Oh how I wish all my flops were this tasty!

Granola Brittle

Dry Ingredients
2 1/4 cups gluten-free granola. (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white chocolate morsels (or 1/2 cup white chocolate morsels and 1/2 cup chocolate chips)
2 cups raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients
1/4 cup corn syrup
6 Tablespoons melted butter (You can use vegetable oil if you are dairy-free.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. 
2. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Stir until mixture looks damp. 
3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until granola is aromatic, brown and bubbly. You want to be sure the sugar has turned a nice brown. If you don't cook the granola long enough, you will have a soft granola. Still good but not the same.
4. Remove the pan from the oven. Using a heat-proof spatula, scrape granola onto a large unlined cookie sheet. You want to spread the granola in a thin layer over the sheet. 
5. When cooled, break granola apart with your fingers.

Makes about 4 cups