Three little bears, awry Valentine, you don't know Bittman

Three little bears

they have too many oats

and they don't know what to do

"I know!", said mama bear

we'll add dried cherries and almonds too!

Scrumdiddlyumptious...

A recipe for raspberry pinwheels from 4 years ago, yields 54, ha to the ha-ha, my pan has about 25.  Wretched recipe took all morning in 30 minute chunks- so off to the recycle bin with you.  I have about a 85% failure rate when trying out new recipes.  It's not me, it's the airbrushed pictures that make you think it's possible to recreate sans playdough and shellac...

So in a huff I turned to my friend Mark Bittman (okay, so he doesn't know I'm his friend, but I'm sure he would find me adorable) and his Crunchy Granola- crazy awesome and my new go to.  I had been buying Bear Naked granola (the closest that I could find to the stuff I smuggled in from Switzerland), but no more.  This was super easy and quick.  Most granola is low and slow like BBQ, requiring an hour to an hour and a half of your oven's time and you stirring it every 15 minutes. This was 30 minutes at 350 and stirred once.  You basically throw in any of those remaining bags of nuts from recipes alongside of oats (and we have plenty of that!) and maple syrup.  Bittman is also known as "The Minimalist Chef" and writes regularly for the NY Times. 

Yep; this is world renowned, big deal chef Mark Bittman cooking  in his NY kitchen, with absolutely no counter space to speak of.  If you need something to watch while folding laundry, check out his podcasts on Itunes.  He is a very dry wit, shaken not stirred, and passionate about real food made accessible.