Daughter’s Granola

Ever since I posted my take on Kim Boyce’s Chocolate Chip Cookies people have been asking me about Daughter’s Granola which I threw into the recipe in lieu of enough flour.

The daughter in question is Emilie Coulson.  Her parents have a restaurant in Fish Creek Wisconsin called The White Gull Inn.  If you would like to torture yourself take a look at the Inn’s Breakfast Menu.  Emilie became particularly attached to the granola which she ate nearly everyday.  So this is her granola, not her parents ergo, Daughter’s Granola.  I love a good story, don’t you?  I met Emelie at Patchwork several years ago then realized (yes I know I can be slow) that her paramour is the talented chef Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria in Costa Mesa.

Back to the granola.  Moving from Door County, Wisconsin to Orange County, California meant that Emilie had to start making her own crunchy oaty goodness to fill in the emptiness between bags from home. She started playing with the crazy abundance of fruit at farmers’ markets here and realized she had a product.  Her two signature granolas are named for her two favorite counties. Door County features tart Montmorency cherries and Jorns’ Sugarbush maple syrup. Orange County features orange blossom honey from local producers as well as Southern California-grown oranges and golden raisins. .  But given her creativity two flavors aren’t enough so she makes a different flavor for each month of the year.  I used “March” with cocoa nibs and amaranth in my cookies.

Like most small batch makers Emilie is more than her granola.  She teaches in writing programs for LA youth, and she’s the grant writer, for 826LA.  That’s some daughter!