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Maple Cinnamon Granola

This homemade Maple Cinnamon Granola is a delicious combination of salty and sweet, and is versatile enough to use in a variety of recipes.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,380 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 6
Prep30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C) and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, ground flax seed, sea salt, cinnamon and ginger until evenly mixed.

  3. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the olive oil, maple sugar or honey, and brown sugar, stirring for 3 to 4 minutes until smooth and fully combined.

  4. Pour the warm liquid over the dry oat mixture and stir well until every oat is coated.

  5. Spread the mixture evenly on the prepared baking sheet, pressing it lightly into an even layer.

  6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until golden brown and fragrant.

  7. Let the granola cool completely on the pan, about 30 minutes, so it turns crisp and clusters form.

  8. Break the cooled granola into pieces and stir in the dried cranberries, if using, before storing in an airtight container.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Oats + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,394 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Oats + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together309 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  5. Olive + gingertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs