A lot of people have commented on the granola I make here. In a nice way, I should add, not from choking or as they surreptitiously feed it to the hens. I had planned to keep it secret, as I didn’t want to lose my unique selling point and find everyone was making it themselves and staying away, but I’m now prepared to accept that sometimes they might want to travel too, so I’m putting the recipe here for others. Possibly only 3, which is I think the reach of the website, but as the recipe is not mine, but the lovely Ottolenghi, who is known for his fabulous healthy salady delicious savouries and yet has a book full of the best sweet recipes I know (see below for image of the cover, and make sure you also make the carrot cake which is utterly delicious and perfect for those of us who do gooey better than light and fluffy).

Granola:

Oven at 140ºC/Gas Mark 1 (or higher if you’re in a hurry, but PUT THE TIMER ON)

300g rolled oats
60g almonds
40g Brazil nuts
40g cashew nuts

or whatever you have in those sorts of quantities.

60g each (a big handful) of pumpkin and sunflower seeds
Mix all up together and put aside

Heat up in a small pan:

3 tbsp water
2tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tbsp sunflower oil
big pinch of salt

120ml maple syryp
120 ml honey

When it’s runny pour it over the oat mix and stir.

Line a large, or better still 2, baking tray with parchment and spread the mix out evenly – make sure it’s not too thick or the bottom layer doesn’t cook properly.

Bake for 40 mins, stirring occasionally until a honey brown, or as dark as you prefer. It will be soft until it cools, so use colour rather than texture as your guide.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool – when it’s still warm add:

100g dried apricots, roughly chopped
60g dried cranberries
60g dried blueberries

This is Ottolenghi’s recipe, but so many have asked about it, and I’m putting it up to encourage others to buy his books. The new Simple is fantastic and less time consuming than some of the earlier ones, but this recipe is from the plain Ottolenghi Cookbook and is full of lovely things, and brilliant breakfast/tea stuff. (I’d make more muffins if guests could fit them in after a full fry up).

Above is the Ottolenghi carrot cake, made with oil, not butter, but delicious for all that. I am not a good cake maker, but this is a failsafe recipe. I am not putting it up here. You have to buy the book.