Granola Mounds

I like Granola and I love fruit but I can't do the whole eating dried fruit in granola thing, and so annoyingly go round picking out all the brightly coloured lumps of dehydrated fruit. Inevitably, the day came to get cracking on some home-made granola. At the drawing board; decided it has to be very nutty, very seed-y and not a bit of dried fruit in sight.

Somewhere in the mix it began to look like a good idea not to stop there and bake the whole thing in some caramilised condensed milk type solution and throw a bit of sea salt over to contrast the whole sweetness of the caramel. Too far? Maybe. But. it did taste very good. Everyone needs a bit of indulgence now and again. This, then, is more of a power-bar granola. One piece gives you loads of energy.

Ingredients:
1 tin 397g x Condensed Milk

150g/5 oz Unsalted peanuts

40g/ 1 oz Hazelnuts (without skins)

40g/ 1 oz Pecans

90g/ 3 oz Pumpkin Seeds

50g/ 2 oz Sunflower Seeds

2tbsp of Sesame Seeds

A few sprinkles of Demarera Sugar,

Seal Salt and Black Pepper

35g/ 1 oz unsalted butter, extra for greasing

200g/ 7 oz rolled (porridge) oats. (Make sure they're the rolled kind)

3tbsp of honey

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C / 356 F

Put the milk tin, unopened, in a large pan of simmering water and leave bubbling for approx 1 and half hours.

When it has 10 minutes left put the three nut ingredients in a plastic, sandwich type bag. Shake them to the bottom, push the air out and grasp the top. Get something heavy like a rolling pin and bash them about so they break up slightly. Keep turning the bag to make this even. If you don't have the bag and pin just roughly chop them on a board.

Scatter on a baking tray and add a few sprinkles of sugar, sea-salt, and grinds of black-pepper. Put in the hot oven for 10 minutes.

Remove and add the pumpkin and sunflower seeds only. Give the tray a stir about, add a further small sprinkle of sugar, reduce the oven heat to 140 degrees C / 284 F and bake for a further 5 minutes.

When you take them out pop the heat back up to 160 degrees C / 320 F. Get an ovenproof tray, about 22x29cm ready for baking the bars by greasing it with a little butter.

Take the pan off the heat and hold under a cold water tap whilst in the pan so the water runs cold around it and the tin begins to cool. Take the tin out with a towel and open. Get a pan on the hob and heat 25g / 1 oz of the butter. Stir in the heated milk.

After a minute stir through the oats, then the tray of nuts and seeds. Spoon out half the mix in to the base of the greased tray and press down with the back of a spoon. Add the other half and do the same. When it is all pushed down sprinkle the top with the sesame seeds so it just about covers the surface. Put it in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

Whilst they're in there take a small pan and melt the rest of the butter and stir through the honey, keep stirring for about 3 minutes. Get this ready and warm for when the granola comes out.

Remove the granola after 20 minutes and spoon over the honey mix. Spread over the top whilst it is still piping hot. Leave to cool for about 15 minutes. Cut the tray up into thinnish bars, as they are quite rich and filling!

Take out and leave to cool.