I’ve never been accused of being particularly domestic.

When I was in college, I moved into my first apartment with my friend Amy. One night, I saw her hurl a piece of bad fruit out the back door onto the gravel alley. A few weeks later, I burned a pan of lasagna. What do you think I did with it?

Oh, yes.

As if I thought some great claw would drop down from the sky and sift away the trash. Like our alley was a gigantic, motorized litter box.

I’ve come a long way since then.

But then there are weeks like this one, when you feed the dog scraps and have to Google “brisket barf AND bamboo.” When you have smoke detectors installed, and the next day, when you slip out of bed to make breakfast and get an A+ in being the Best Wife Ever!, the delicious bacon sets them all off, and THEY ALL SOUND DIFFERENT. And you can’t reach them! Because you just moved in, and you CAN’T FIND A CHAIR!

It’s been one of those weeks when you’re out with your husband and realize you’re wearing a black bra under a very light, white shirt, and you remember the girl who used to come into your philosophy class wearing a bright teal bra under an eyelet lace blouse, talking about how the ham sandwiches her husband made her were an aphrodisiac, because they were “made with the hands of love.” And when you ask your husband why he didn’t say anything, he acts like he was butting out of your fashion statement.

He was probably just thankful I wasn’t wearing the Rocky T-shirt.

But things are looking up. I’ve got chairs posted near the smoke detectors. Henry is under a strict no-brisket policy. I’ve got the bra situation in headlock. And I upped my domestic mojo by MAKING the granola that went into these Granola Grabbers. Extra credit!

The nice thing about these granola cookies is that they’re easy to customize. Simply take out the offending ingredient (aka “raisins”) and replace it with something delicious (i.e. dried cherries, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, dried apricots). Trade the peanuts for cashews. Trade the wheat germ for anything but wheat germ. Or add more of an ingredient you really love, like coconut. Or pepperoni.

The resulting cookie is a crazy mix of granola, fruits, and nuts–just like a party at Elton John’s!

Enjoy the recipe after the jump. And if you’re domestically-challenged, please stand up in the Comments section, and TESTIFY!

Granola Grabbers

From Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”

Makes about 40 cookies

  • 3 cups granola without fruit
  • 3/4 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
  • 1/2 cup salted peanuts
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • 1/3 cup wheat germ
  • 1 3/4 sticks (14 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

2. Put the granola in a large bowl and break up any clumps with your fingers. Add the raisins, peanuts, almonds, coconut and wheat germ and mix together.

3. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until creamy. Add the eggs and salt and beat until well blended. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated, then steadily add the granola and fruit. Stop the mixer when most of the granola mix is blended into the batter and finish the job with a sturdy rubber spatula, making sure to get up any bits of dry ingredients left in the bottom of the bowl.

4. Scoop out rounded tablespoonfuls of dough, pack the scoops between your palms and arrange the mounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between them. Flatten the mounds lightly with your fingertips.

5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies should be golden brown but not firm. Allow them to rest on the sheets for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring them to racks to cool to room temperature.

6. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Storing: In a covered cookie jar, these will be fine for about 3 days. If you want to keep them longer, wrap them airtight and freeze them for up to 2 months.