Granola Cluster Cookies

A surprisingly indulgent cookie.

Before you begin to fret that this recipe’s seemingly healthful name is an indication of it being anything less than delicious, let me assure you, it’s not.

Granola often gets branded as a health food, which I find amusing because there’s something about it — and any recipe that includes a large variety of nuts — that’s always felt a little decadent to me.

Sometimes while scarfing down a nice big handful of granola (which, granted is not often) I imagine I’m a well fed king who’s eating the spoils of his travel’s all at once. Flaked coconut from Tahiti, almonds from Spain, pepitas from Mexico, everything stirred together and slowly roasted with a sizable amount of sugar.

Kelsey McClellan’s Granola Cluster Cookie recipe, which was originally printed in Bon Appétit’s December 2017 issue, is one of the few recipes out there that gives granola the royal treatment it deserves. These cookies are way sweeter than you’d expect them to be and they have a great little crunch.

Behold! The Granola Cluster Cookie:

Although truthfully, cookies isn’t really the right word for what these are.

They’re more like macaroons, except that instead of creating a stack of shredded coconut bound together with whipped egg whites, you’re using a variety of nuts.

The recipe is simple enough to make and is really only comprised of two significant steps, both of which take little time to complete: roasting the granola nut mixture, and whipping up egg whites. And, the cookies themselves only take about 15-20 minutes to bake.

Just be sure to wait a few minutes before transferring your cookies to a wire rack as they can be a little delicate right out of the oven. I tried removing a couple right away and sadly they crumbled to pieces.

As mine were cooling, I decided to brush them with a little edible gold powder.

It’s not required, I mean, it’s not even a part of the recipe, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

Tasty Finds

I didn’t get up to too much cooking this week, unfortunately. I know that’s the whole point of this newsletter, but life intervened.

Please accept this video of Seth Meyers and Ina Garten day drinking as my peace offering. It is wholesome and nice.

Tastier Reads

April Chan explained how Chinese restaurants are being left out of the organic food movement in the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Jeanelle Olson shared some of the difficulties she’s facing currently as a pregnant food writer for the Takeout.

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Tove Danovich made the case for creating a “lunch club” at work, to make your midday meal more enjoyable for NPR.

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Jane Black wrote a great review of Yasmin Khan’s new Palestinian cookbook, Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen for the Washington Post. 

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And, Open Culture shared a video of Andy Warhol eating a Burger King Whopper in 1981.

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As always, if you think of something you’d like to share with me, feel free to reach me at ahenning91@gmail.com.

Until next week!

Amanda