Berkshire Grain Granola: the secret ingredient to Football Crunch

I love creating recipes and new products.

It is my profession; it is my passion. And much like the Starship Enterprise, I take foods where they have not gone before. 

Companies large and small contract my services for creative marketing ideas, prototype development, product introduction, recipe handouts, back of package copy, point of sale recipes, etc. This week, I was asked to support the product Introduction of Berkshire Grain Granola (my favorite granola by the way) at Stew Leonard's in Connecticut.

Berkshire Grain will be sampling their Cinnamon Toast and Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Granolas at the Norwalk store on Friday, February 4, 12-6pm and Saturday February 5, 10am-4pm.

The Super Bowl is a big event for entertaining, and a great time to share food with friends and family. So i thought it natural to come up with a great tasting and unique snacking mix - the perfect thing to go with a beer, wine or non-alcoholic beverage.  Just in case you can't make it to Stew Leonard's this week-end, here is one of the printed "recipe take-aways"  that I'll be giving to customers:

Football Crunch Snack Mix

Ingredients 

2 cups Popped Corn

2 cups Chex cereal

1 cup Berkshire Grain Cinnamon Toast or Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Granola

2 tablespoons Earth Balance buttery spread, Smart Balance buttery spread or your light butter spread of choice

2 tablespoons maple syrup or natural pancake syrup

2 tablespoons natural cane sugar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In medium bowl mix together, popcorn, cereal and granola.

In small saucepan combine remaining ingredients. Cook over medium high heat,

stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium . Let boil for two minutes without stirring.

Immediately pour cooked mixture over popcorn mixture, stirring with rubber spatula or wooden spoon to coat.

Turn onto cookie sheet than has been lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake in preheated 250 oven for one hour. Remove from oven and let cool.

Makes 5 cups mix. 

For Snack mix variation

1. Use 1 -1/2 cups Chex cereal, add 1/2 cups small pretzel sticks broken in half, or 1/2 cup  peanuts
2. Omit salt, proceed as recipe directs.
3. For a spicier mix add a dash of your favorite hot sauce.

Berkshire Grain is conducting a Super Bowl Contest on their Facebook Fan Page. It's free, and if you're lucky you can win a  case of their delicious granolas.