Bedford Springs Homemade Granola

This is the best granola I've ever had. 

No, this may be the best granola in the world.

About a month ago, my program had our annual retreat at the Bedford Springs Resort, a very very nice resort known for its golf course and mineral hot springs. It's almost like stepping back into time when you are there because it looks like a plantation house from the 1800s, and the halls are full of old-timey photographs from hundreds of years of visitors to the Springs.

Anyway, I woke up insanely early on Saturday and couldn't go back to sleep, so we were the first ones there at breakfast and had a few one-on-one conversations with the kitchen staff, who were busily putting all the food out for the breakfast buffet. One kind staff member encouraged me to definitely try their granola, "it's house made and really good." Well. I didn't need more encouragement than that. So I got a container of yogurt, and tried this granola.

It was crunchy, deeply caramel in color, chock full of nuts, and SO fragrant. I immediately picked up my phone and started Googling "Bedford Springs granola recipe." In the middle of me waiting for my browser to load the search results, the staff member came back around and asked me how it was.

"So so good! I was actually trying to search to see if there was a copycat recipe anywhere online..."

"Oh, would you like for me to ask the chef for the recipe? I can get it for you."

"Oh my gosh, that would be awesome."

About 10 minutes later, she emerged from the kitchens with a handwritten recipe straight from the chef's notes. Words cannot describe how much I appreciated the staff's kindness and how giddy I was at the prospect of making this wonderful granola at home! Profuse thank-yous and alerting the front desk to her extraordinary service and helpfulness would have to suffice.

This recipe was hotel-kitchen size, with 9 pounds of oatmeal called for. Um yeah, I don't have a mixing bowl that large...and if I made a batch of granola that big, I would become a whale of a person from eating that much! So here is the 1/10 scaled down recipe below. If you can use a digital scale, that ensures the best results with this recipe, but I've included our approximations of volume if you don't have one.

It's pretty dead on to the original, despite the differences between an industrial kitchen and home kitchen. All that coconut is what makes this granola so special, so addictive, and a keeper for generations to come. 

Can't. Stop. Eating.

(And it's a gateway drug, as you will see in my future posts. More granola recipes to follow.)

Bedford Springs Homemade Granola

scaled down 1/10

Ingredients (original recipe amounts in parentheses):

Dry:

4.5 cups/14.4 ounces/408 grams oats (9 lbs)
4 cups/11.2 ounces/317 grams sweetened shredded coconut (7 lbs)
2 ½ cups/8 ounces/226 grams pecans (5 lbs)
2 cups/8 ounces/226 grams cashews (5 lbs)
1 teaspoon salt (9 tsp/1.5 oz)
¾ cups/6.4 ounces/181.5 grams granulated sugar (4 lbs)
1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon (12 tsp)

Wet:
6.5 tablespoons/4.8 ounces/136 grams honey (3 lbs)
3.4 Tablespoons /2.4 ounces/68 grams white corn syrup (24 oz)
4.5 Tablespoons/2.4 ounces/68 grams apple juice (24 oz)
6.75 tablespoons/3.2 ounces/90.7 grams vegetable oil (32 oz)

~¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (2-3 tsp) – Add last

*Note: Total volume of Wet Ingredients is approximately 1 & 1/3 cups; you can substitute other liquidy things if you prefer, like water if you have no apple juice, or maple syrup for the corn syrup.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line with parchment or foil two large cookie sheets. Set up two oven racks in the bottom and top thirds of the oven.

Mix together all the dry ingredients well in a large mixer (a paddle attachment should work). Keep mixing on low speed for a minute or two to get everything evenly distributed. If using a Kichenaid mixer, the plastic pour guard/rim that comes with the mixer is really helpful in keeping things from flying out of the bowl while mixing (it's pretty full).

Combine all wet ingredients in a saucepan, put it over low-medium heat, and whisk until smooth and warm. The viscosity will decrease once it's warmed up. You don't need to get it to boiling, just hot.

While keeping the dry ingredients moving/mixing, slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Continue mixing until well combined and all dry ingredients are moistened.

Spread granola out in an even layer on prepared cookie sheets and bake at 300 degrees. Bake about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so to flip the browned granola away from the bottom and edges, spreading everything out into an even layer again after flipping. Once done, take out and cool. Chop up clumps as desired as it hardens. If you like large chunks, let it cool all the way down and then break up clumps. If you like small grains, keep it moving as it cools.

Cool completely and store in airtight containers. Try not to eat the entire batch in one sitting. Not recommended for the dieter.