The Second Law of Something Important

A word to all of you who share my categorical disregard for Following Directions in Recipes: the laws of chemistry and/or physics do occasionally prevail in your kitchen, too. Specifically, the law that says that if you stick burnable substances in your oven at too high a temperature for too long a period of time, they will burn.

What is that law, exactly? You'd think thermodynamics, but that's all just energy conservation and whatnot. The only other law that's coming to mind is Avogadro's Law, which is a personal favorite of mine due largely to its similarity to the word avocados. But that's about gas molecules, methinks.

Right. Digression.

So if some afternoon you are seized with a fierce longing for homemade granola, overrule the part of your brain that is saying you already know most of the logical ingredients for granola, and go with the extreme faction protesting that it could still be a good idea to consult a recipe.

So that you don't bake it at, like, 400 degrees instead of 300.

And so that you don't add in your dried cherries and chopped pecans/almonds before the baking instead of toward the end or completely after.

And so that, as a direct result, you don't end up chiseling out the salvageable granola from the scorched mass adhered to your cookie sheet.



Yep.



On the bright side, the salvaged granola was really, really good.

And I had a cute assistant cook who found the blackened mass hilarious.

Before shots:










After shot of some of the rescued granola:



Things to put in your granola: dry oatmeal (I used quick oats because that's what was hanging out in my cupboard, but apparently This Is Bad. I didn't really notice a difference, though.), molasses or maple syrup or honey (I went with honey), brown sugar, oil or butter, and then stuff to mix in after you bake the granola.

Would you like a recipe? Lemme just find you a nice-sounding recipe. Hold on.

Here ya go.


And hey, I think I remember the name of that law: The Second Law of Common Sense.

Right. I must have been absent that day.


Happy baking. :)