A storied American nut gets a crisp, maple-sweetened turn. 

Pecans have long had a place in American kitchens, particularly in the South. When French settlers arrived in Louisiana in the early 1700s, they brought with them pralines, a confection traditionally made with almonds, sugar, butter and cream. Pecans were abundant in the region, so cooks began using the native nut in place of almonds, giving rise to the pecan praline that would become a Southern classic. 

The nut proved useful well beyond the candy dish. During the Civil War and later the world wars, Americans ate pecans as a source of protein when meat was expensive or difficult to come by. When demand fell after the wars and growers were left with a surplus, pecan producers looked for new ways to get the nut into American kitchens. A national recipe contest held in 1924 drew more than 21,000 recipes from over 5,000 cooks, with 800 eventually collected in a cookbook. 

A century later, there’s no shortage of ways to use them. In this granola recipe, pecans are paired with maple syrup and oats and baked until everything is deeply toasted and crisp. The pecans become especially fragrant in the oven, while the maple syrup coats the oats with a mellow sweetness and helps form those coveted crunchy clusters. 

Make a batch to keep on hand for easy breakfasts throughout the week. Serve it with milk, spoon it over yogurt with apples or pears, or eat it straight from the container. Much like the pecan itself, there’s no shortage of resourceful ways to put this granola to good use. 

Ingredients 

Instructions