I like to make a batch of these wonderfully crunchy clusters once a week and keep them by my computer for blog time snacking. What is it with crunchy? It's like a compulsory attribute for anything that is addictive. Potato chips, cheetos, salted nuts, wasabi peas, fried chick peas, corn nuts, pretzels, onion rings, fried chicken, tempura, samosas, Oreos.... This recipe fits right in there.

So many commercial granolas are so full of fat because the oats are coated in oil before baking in order to get them crispy. This time we use the power of egg white!

Egg whites have this amazing characteristic where, even though they are mostly water, the proteins form an incredibly strong matrix film that crisps up when it becomes dehydrated.

Basically we get all sorts of crunchy with little need for fat or heaps of sugar.

There are plenty of times where copious amounts of butter are welcome - I don't fear the yellow block. But, this is not one of them.

Hello quinoa, hello clusters, let's just chill here for a while...