Homemade Granola

I'm on a big yogurt kick lately, and I love to make a mix of Greek yogurt, honey and granola.  I haven't found a granola mix that I love, so I decided to make my own!

The wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can easily adapt it to suit your cravings by substituting any nut or dried fruit that you want...almonds, pecans, apricots, dried cherries, etc.  Here's how I made it:



Ingredients:

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup walnuts
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup honey or agave nectar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees, and grease a 12 x 18 baking sheet with sides.  If you don't have this size, you can use two regular size cookies sheets, but they must have sides.

Put the oats in a large bowl.

Chop the walnuts and add to the bowl.

Do the same with the peanuts (I used a pastry cutter):

Add the raisins and dried cranberries to the bowl.  You can skip this step and add them to the granola when it comes out of the oven...it's completely up to you.

In a medium size bowl, whisk the honey/agave, olive oil, vegetable oil/canola oil, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar.  Note: the brown sugar will not be totally incorporated.

Add the wet ingredients into the oat mixture and stir to combine.  (If you have a hard time mixing them, just dump it out onto the baking sheet and mixed it there.)

Spread the mixture in the baking sheet in an even layer and pop it in your pre-heated oven.

Stir and re-spread the granola every 10 minutes for 40 minutes, then keep an eye on it for the next five minutes.  Mine went from golden brown to dark brown very quickly!

Remove from the oven, and move the mix to another baking sheet or platter to prevent it from continuing to cook in your pan.

Let the mixture come to room temperature, then break the granola into pieces with a spatula.

Store in an airtight container or give it away in gift bags to your friends and family...this would be a great holiday present!

Have fun experimenting with different ingredients,

- Sugar Baby