Baking With Kids: Granola

Does this scenario sound familiar? You are baking and your child desperately wants to help sift the pre-mixed flour (i.e., it has baking powder, etc, in it) into the bowl with your sieve. Despite misgivings, you let her because you know she has to learn--and whoosh! half of it goes over the side. Or she desperately wants to stir and whoosh! same result.

Been there, done that, and it drives me nuts. We were recently discussing this issue at a moms' night out and a friend of mine said she just dumps some flour and a few other ingredients into a bowl and lets him mix to his heart's content. While this is a great idea, I wanted something better, especially because my eldest would know that her stuff wasn't actually baked and she would be upset (my friend's son is Sammy's age). Plus I have an admittedly weird hang up about wasting the flour. So I started wondering what might I let them mix on their own without Rose Levy Beranbaum in my ear telling me that if the final results were not precisely measured the whole thing would go to h*ll in a handbasket.

That's when I remembered I needed to make granola. Perfect! I cleaned the counter so whatever was spilled could be tossed back in. I never measure precisely for granola anyway. It is easy to mix with a spoon or your hand. We had a blast! See here for my original recipe, although I add and sub at random.