The "cream" in the Lemon Cream Granola is just melted white baking chips. I thought I'd grabbed a bag of white chocolate chips. Wrong. But it turned out right because white baking chips are made from dry milk powder.
Dry milk powder is closer to cream than the somewhat suspect white chocolate.
Skip the melted white baking chips if you only want the tang of lemon.
Lemon Cream Granola
Text and Photo by Jac Kyles Baker
Makes 1 cup
Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
4 TB lemon simple syrup
1 TB granulated sugar
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 TB white baking chips, melted
1 tsp lemon zest*
a few drops of almond extract
Preparation
In a large bowl: add sugar, oil, lemon syrup, lemon zest and almond extract. Stir until smooth.
Add oats to the bowl. Completely coat the oats.
Drop clumps of half the granola on a microwave safe plate or parchment paper. Microwave on HIGH 30 seconds at a time until the granola is dry to the touch.**
Carefully remove plate or parchment from the microwave. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Drizzle or splatter melted white baking chips on top of the cooled granola.
Repeat with the remaining granola.
Store granola in an airtight container.
Cook's Notes
*I finely diced the lemon peel strips from the lemon syrup instead of lemon zest.
** Don't be tempted to set the timer for a few minutes without checking the progress of the granola.
The granola will go from raw/half done to burned in a matter of seconds.
Granola may feel soft when taken out of the microwave. It will harden as it cools.
Patience is key; this is much faster than making granola in a conventional oven.