Farmers’ Market Granola Gems
We are vendors at the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market and while developing this recipe, I took muffin samples to the Market. The feedback received from vendors and customers resulted in this final recipe – to great acclaim!
2¼ cups Edgefield Blend Granola
2¼ cups sour cream
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 cups light brown sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla (overflowing)
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped pecans
½ cup dried cranberries (approximately)
Demerara sugar to top each muffin cup
— (about 9 teaspoons approximately)
2½ cups additional granola (approximately)
Preheat oven to 350°. Mix granola and sour cream together; let soak for about 30 minutes. Combine melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, and add to granola/sour cream mixture. Mix dry ingredients together and add in. Add pecans. Stir together about 14 times – but not more than 17 times, if possible. Grease muffin cups (I use the PAM Baking Spray with flour) and fill muffin wells. Place an additional 1 cranberry in each dough mound, pushing into the dough to cover the fruit. Completely cover each mound of dough with approximately ¼ teaspoon (or less) Demerara sugar. Crush some extra granola (without cranberries) and sprinkle over the top of each muffin. Bake. Test for doneness. Place muffin pans on a cooling rack, and let muffins sit in pans for about 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pans and place on cooling rack.
For mini-muffins, bake about 12 – 15 minutes. Yield: Approximately 12 dozen
For regular muffins, bake about 20 – 25 minutes. Yield: About 24 muffins
Note: If you wish to bake two trays in the oven at once, one rack placed higher than the middle rack position and one rack lower than the middle position, bake half-way through the baking times above. Then exchange positions of the muffin trays, putting the one on the higher rack onto the lower rack and vice-versa. Then bake for the remaining time. Test for doneness.
