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The day we almost died(or so my parents tell me)….

The day start off well. The Swiss Family Peabody was out for a family adventure to raft down the Colorado river. As you can see from the picture it was a lovely day with no weather concerns whatsoever. Now don’t think we just got in a raft and went for it. There were guides with actual people who knew what they were doing. Or so I am told…in case you hadn’t noticed I was about 4 years old there. Also please note my mother’s t-shirt(I would hate to miss an opportunity to embarrass her)…it says Foxy Lady. LOL…even back then they were making those ridiculous shirts.
All was well with our trip, I guess, see I only really remember one part of that, and I will get to that in a bit.
Arizona rain and Washington rain are very different. Arizona rain is hard, fast and sometimes only lasts a few minutes. The soil there is not made to hold that amount of water that quickly and they get flash floods. Usually in the Summer, when they get Monsoons. Washington rain is like being under a mister system. It is really more of a drizzle, but goes on all day. I have learned I like Washington rain better.
On the afternoon of our trip, the Monsoon clouds rolled in just as we were passing through a steep canyon. There was no where to dock the raft as the only thing around us where shear cliffs. Not ideal place to be as we would soon learn. The sky opened up and the rain cometh…hard. The flooding began and the little raft was being thrown around. I really only remember two things. One, I was wearing a black garbage bag which did a craptastic job of keeping the water off me as the water seemed to be coming from everywhere. And two, holding on to a granola bar….tightly. I remember thinking that if I could just hold onto that granola bar everything would be alright. I almost lost it a few times, and when the storm was over all that was left of my Honey and Oat’s granola bars was a wet nub. But it was my web nub and I was safe. In my little mind, I had helped keep us safe by holding on to that granola bar. I guess the rest of that situation was too scary for me and I blocked it out as my family has a much more frightening recollection of the days events. I, I just had a granola bar.
When we got to the end where the trailers were, we all dried off and hot chocolate was pumped into our system. I even got me a new, dry granola bar to eat.
When going through Sweet Melissa’s book I saw a recipe from Granola Breakfast Cookies and immediately thought of the trip and my granola bar. I did make a lot of changes to the recipe. The original recipe has you use granola you made as well as molasses. I loaded mine up with sugar and used Vanilla-Almond Granola from my yuppie grocery store. Same concept and an excellent way to start the day.

Vanilla-Almond Granola Cookies

6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
½ cup blackberry honey
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups Vanilla-Almond Granola

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, honey, and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and whisk until incorporated.’
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda.
Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture all at once and stir until  combined. Stir in the granola.
Drop the batter 2 inches apart by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets(12  on each sheet). Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Do not over bake. The cookies should be nice and chewy when cool. Remove to a rack to cool on the sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to the rack.

I have also included the original recipe since I strayed quite a bit. I am not giving you the granola recipe…you should go buy the book and get it for yourself. 🙂 You could use any type of granola you wanted though so don’t feel you have to have homemade.

 

Granola Breakfast Cookies

6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
½ cup clover honey
¼ cup molasses
1 large egg
1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
¼ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups Cherry Almond Granola

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, honey, and molasses until smooth. Add the egg and whisk until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture all at once and stir until  combined. Stir in the granola.
Drop the batter 2 inches apart by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets(12  on each sheet). Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Do not over bake. The cookies should be nice and chewy when cool. Remove to a rack to cool on the sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to the rack.
These cookies will keep layered between wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 weeks.

Adapted from Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy, Penguin Group 2008

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Comments

  1. That’s an irresistible post title, Peabody. The granola cookies look lovely; I was never given any when growing up and suffered severe granola envy of other people’s bars. If I knew they were magic, like yours was, I would have never gotten over it.

    Reply

  2. One of the fun times for families is when everybody is older and can compare memories of the same events!
    The cookies . . . well, did you save any? I think one would be so lovely this afternoon.

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  4. So glad you lived to tell the tale how a granola bar saved your life. Now that’s a real SUPER food!
    Those cookies look yummy and super too!

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  5. I love a cookie that’s disguised as breakfast 🙂 I would be clutching these babies just like you did the granola bar when you were 4.

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  11. I love love love oatmeal cookies, so I’m thinking granola cookies would be even better.

    Have you been through Florida rain yet? It’s like NOTHING else.

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  14. This Arizona girl (not by choice!) loves the Monsoon story! The cookies look fantastic and the photography is beautiful. I adore the ribbon!

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  16. Yum. I love Vanilla Almond Granola from my grocery store too. Your post reminds of my family, my mother was an over preparer and we always had extra granola bars in the car “just in case”. Thanks for the story.

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  17. Girl you need to write an “adventures in cooking cook book’. Love your stories and love your creations!

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  18. Ooooooh! I love granola! And whole wheat flour! And cookies! For breakfast = even better.

    I am seriously envious of all the people who own that book.

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  22. Wow those look like a terrific way to start the day. My family went canoeing once on a two day trip and I think it rained the entire time. No flash floods though.

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  25. Great story Peabody and lovely looking cookies. I can’t wait for my book to come. I ordered it last week. Have you got Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets? That’s another great book, but sadly no pictures in it. Wouldn’t be a problem for you though as you could make your own lovely photos! As always your pics are fantastic!

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  27. Pea, thank you for sharing these. I do have a cookie addiction and would love to bake something allegedly healthier. 🙂 The cookies look beautiful and I love how you photographed them. Pretty, indeed.
    As for your adventure, poor you! So cute and adorable and scared.

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  28. Cookies for breakfast? YUM! I actually had a cookie for breakfast this morning but it does not look as good as yours. I also love cherry almond granola from Whole Foods.

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  30. I have a really similar family photo, except no Foxy Lady t-shirt and we didn’t almost die.

    Is that Trader Joe’s Vanilla Almond Granola? My favorite! I can eat it by the handful. And you went and put it in a cookie….you really are wonderful!

    (Just a bit of snow, but none sticking. You?)

    Reply

  33. The Swiss Family Peabody! Hahahahahaha! I love it! I also loved your sweet story. That must have been one scary say for all of you.

    The cookies look great. I just got Melissa’s book and I can’t wait to have a little time to make something from it.

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  35. Hello, Peabody! I just today stumbled upon (and have favoritized) your lovely blog. I can almost smell the foods in your photos (what sort of camera do you have?) and can’t wait to be out of college and with a kitchen so that I can try some of these fantastic recipes. Keep it up… this is such a fun blog.

    Reply

  36. Oh my, that’s such a great story, although I’m sure it wasn’t so funny at the time! At least you found inspiration for this tasty-looking cookie in it all, right?

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  39. Well, I’m glad you were all ok in the end! Jamie Oliver does a mug with ‘Foxy Lady’ on it…

    I’m going to have to give in and buy Melissa’s book!

    Reply

  40. I love your stories. I was wondering where this would go, and the granola ending is great. I can just picture you holding that soggy thing. As far as your mom’s shirt goes, my mother had one, too, but her’s said Foxy Gramma. Jeeez. The cookies are scrumptious looking! Chewy & yummy…Mmmm…

    Reply

  41. Love the story and the fabulous family picture! I would love to see a recent photo , side by side with this one.
    Your photographs with the ribbon are just beautiful, as always! Can’t complain about cookies for breakfast!

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  47. My goodness!! What a trip!! Thankfully everyone in the Swiss Family Peabody (haha!! love the play on words, with the “original family title”) made it out of the storm okay; and hey, that trip inspired you to try this fabulous cookie recipe (I LOVE the vanilla-almond granola that you used – yum!). So wait a minute – since the cookie isn’t chocolate & peanut butter, does this mean that your husband won’t like it? ;0)

    Reply

  48. Oh my! What a story!! What a GRANOLA BAR!! The world would’ve been a much sadder place without you in it Pea! I think we should all make this wonderful looking recipe to celebrate your life 🙂 That could be some blog event eh??

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  52. I said “awwww” out loud when I read the wet nub part. Gotta love all the yuppie grocery stores we have here, there’s a PCC, Metropolitan Market, and Whole Foods within like 4 miles of my house. Ah good old Seattle. 🙂

    Reply

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