Honey Nut Granola

Love homemade granola, it's delicious and cheaper than store bought, you can make a huge batch AND the combinations of ingredients is endless.

This one comes from Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cover Cookbook.

I changed it up according to our tastes, so used maple syrup, chocolate chips instead of nuts, and added some tropical fruit at the end.

Honey Nut Granola

6 cups old-fashioned or quick oats
2 cup chopped nuts, any kind
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup honey or maple syrup
2 cups dried cranberies, raisins or chopped dates

Preheat oven to 325 F.  In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, coconut, cinnamon and salt.  In a small cup, heat honey or maple syrup in microwave just until warm.  Fold honey or maple syrup in oat mixture, stirring to coat well.

Evenly spread granola on two large, rimmed baking sheets.  Place in oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes, carefully stirring granola often so it doesn't burn.  Rotate pans after stirring.  Granola is done when it seems lightly browned, mostly dry and no longer sticky.

Let granola cool 15 minutes on baking sheets;  pour into large bowl.  Stir in dried fruit.  Press mixture into bowl with back of a spoon;  this will form some clumps.  Let cool completely before sealing into an airtight container.

Coconut Almond Granola

Have you ever made your own granola???  Because if you haven't you don't know what you're missing out on.

I first started making granola a while ago while frustrated that eating oatmeal was something akin to chewing on cardboard.  BLECH!

I just can't eat plain oatmeal it's horrible.  To ME.  So I decided that I needed to kick it up a notch, make it edible, enjoyable and something I wouldn't mind eating for breakfast.  Then I set up on a journey to find granola recipes but one thing I noticed is that most used oil and I didn't want to use it but I do have and love coconut oil so when I stumbled upon this recipe from The Frugal Girl, I decided it was the one to try.

After trying many others, I think this one is my favorite.

Coconut Granola

Ingredients:
6 cups regular oatmeal
1 cup nuts
1 cup dried fruit
1 cup shaved coconut or other fruit/nut
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract (or almond extract)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, fruit, and coconut.

Heat the honey, oil and brown sugar on low heat in a small pot. Stir in extracts.

Pour honey mixture over oat mixture and stir well.

Spread onto two baking sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes, then stir. Bake for another 5 minutes and stir.

Bake in additional 2-5 minute intervals until granola is light golden brown.