Fig, Olive Oil, and Sea Salt Granola

Now that we're all sitting at our work desks, realizing just how much our stomach is drooping over our pants, it's time to put those New Year's resolutions in action. These new life alterations aren't typically something that anyone ever really looks forward to but after this break, we think it's time to take action against everything bad that we did to our bodies during the last month. In our world, these regrets mainly revolve around the copious amounts of booze and the delicious grub that we've binged on during holiday parties. Normal people may join a gym, vow to stop drinking, or go on a juice cleanse to get ready for the sunny weekends at Rockaway that lie ahead, but we're not into changing our dietary habits in any extreme matter. Like at all. I mean, c'mon dudes, we have Empire Mayo on hand at all times so needless to say it's impossible. Instead, we're trying to change some of the little things like cutting down on eating that amazing crack butter from Roberta's, minimizing our intake of Hazelnut Whisky Sandwich Cookies by Whimsy & Spice, and chilin' out on all those elderflower and gin cocktails that took over our afternoons during the last intoxicating month.  

We're not the apple and wheatgrass type of crew here at Dep, but we do like to eat semi-healthy every once in a while. Because of this, we decided to share a homemade granola recipe to help inspire you to eat better and to…let's be honest here…make us feel a little bit better about ourselves. By using local and organic ingredients and not going overboard on certain things that probably would have made it even more delicious, we were able to make an insanely addicting sweet and savory granola that is packed full of protein and fiber. The sweetness from the muscovato sugar balances perfectly with the salty maldon flakes, and the olive oil, well, that just crisps everything up into perfect little golden clusters that we might just be obsessed with. If you can't tell, we're pretty proud of ourselves.

Ingredients

2 cups of Farm to Table Organic Pure Oatmeal

3 tbsp Bee Raw Maine Blueberry Honey

3 tbsp Salvatore BKLYN Olive OIl

2 tbsp Muscovato Light Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp Maldon Sea Salt

2 tbsp dried figs, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup mixed nuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 300°F and place two cups of oats in a shallow baking sheet. Toast for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until oats begin to transition from a light pale white to a toasty golden-tan color.

2. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan combine honey, olive oil, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper and heat over low until sugar is dissolved.

3. Add the nuts and figs to the toasted oats and drizzle liquid over top; stir thoroughly until all of the oats are coated. Spread granola into an even layer on the baking sheet and cook for another 30 minutes - stirring every ten minutes to create clusters.

4. After thirty minutes the granola will still appear wet but after you transfer the mixture to a sheet of wax paper and allow it to dry, it will become super crispy and full of clusters.

Early Bird Granola

This sweet and salty granola, that was once available only at the Brooklyn Flea, is now flying off of our shelves and into your homes faster than we could have imagined. Unlike other commercially made granolas, Early bird is baked with organic ingredients (when available) and crisped up using extra virgin olive oil, instead of less flavorful oils like palm or canola which is typical to store-bought brands. The granola is then studded with dried fruits and crispy nuts and then finished with a healthy sprinkling of salt, which makes for a brilliant flavor profile. Early Bird Granola is truly unlike anything you've tried before.

At Dep, you can find the Farmhand's Choice, which has dried organic coconut, southern pecans, and maple syrup, and the Jubilee Recipe, which has sour dried cherries and pistachios, or the Crack of Dawn Bar which is a sweet and salty granola bar - all of which are flavored with olive oil and sea salt for a sweet and savory balance. You can eat it however you'd like but we can guarantee that it will most likely be by the handful.