New Recipe: a Gallon Bucket of Granola

My new molasses granola recipe has been adapted. Now we use many more rolled oats (a full gallon bucket - 16 cups of oats or 4.2 pounds). It works out to this ratio: two and a half or three tablespoons of dressing per cup of rolled oats.

The "dressing" is one cup of corn oil and one cup of Grandma's molasses and 3 teaspoons of kosher salt and a teaspoon of homemade vanilla, brought to a boil in a big heavy-bottomed pot. Then I add the rolled oats and stir madly.

I bake it at 250ºF in two cast iron frying pans for 45 minutes and I let it rest in the residual oven heat for hours until cool. 

This ratio of rolled oats to "dressing" or goop results in a toasted oat cereal granola and less like cookies. It won't stick together in clumps. I find that it tastes like oatcakes. You can really taste the oats.

Directions for a gallon (16 cups, 4+ lbs) of granola

Ingredients:
16 cups (1 gallon, ~4.2 lbs) rolled oats
1 cup corn oil + 2 tbsp
1 cup molasses+ 2 tbsp
2 tsp vanilla (try to use real rather than imitation vanilla, it makes a world of difference)
3 tsp kosher salt (1½ tsp regular table salt)

Preheat oven to 250ºF and have your pans/sheets laid out and ready. It's a bit like candy making - you must have everything ready and work fast.

Measure and pour the oil before the molasses. The residual oil will prevent the molasses from sticking to the measuring cup.

Use a sturdy wooden spoon and a heavy-bottomed pot for boiling the molasses oil salt vanilla mixture. Then while vigorously stirring, add the oats. Stir until the molasses mixture is evenly distributed. You can taste it to check the flavor and saltiness.

Pour into two large cast iron frying pans or two baking sheets. Bake for 45 minutes at 250ºF. Turn off the oven. Let the granola sit in the closed oven until cool. Stir occasionally if you wish.

If you like the idea of your granola being more like a granola bar or cookie, reduce the amount of oats and salt to half. The granola will be sticky and will clump together and harden as it cools.

Interesting article about toasting oats for oatmeal. Nutritional content of oats.

recipe for cylinder of oats 

1 cup molasses, 1 cup corn oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon table salt (2 teaspoons if Kosher salt)