Homemade granola

**A postscript (which is really a pre-script if you are reading this for the first time :p)  This is delicious as a cereal in the morning for breakfast.  It's got legs, so stick with about 1/2 cup or less.  I also added dried cherries as an afterthought.  They are really good in this.

I bought a giant package of oats for the topping on my apple crisp.  The topping reminded me of granola, which got me to poking around the internet to find a granola recipe.  I found this one.  I'd never made granola before and quite honestly, I'm not much of a granola eater.  But I do like granola or grape nuts mixed into my yogurt now and again, and I figured, What the heck?

The ingredients for this recipe are expensive.  I didn't have wheat germ or oat bran on hand, so I had to buy them especially for this.  If I don't like this recipe enough to make again, I'm going to struggle to find something to use those ingredients in.  It contains both nuts and seeds and those aren't cheap. I substituted coconut oil for the vegetable oil.  I used cranberries, not raisins.

I made half a recipe.  It made a full cookie sheet of granola, and not some thin little cookie sheet full.  It was layered at least 1/2" thick on that sheet.  I'd guess it made about 8 cups of granola.  Maybe closer to 10 cups.  It really did need to be stirred in the middle of cooking. In any event, that is way more than enough to keep one or two people happy for a week or two of dedicated granola eating.  The full-recipe would need to be frozen in my household.  I plan on keeping this in the fridge.  I'll let you know how long it lasts in there.

OK, for the important part.  How does it taste?

Awesome.  It is a bit sweet, but the tartness of the cranberries is a nice contrast.  It is nutty.  I used pecans, walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds.  The only nuts you can taste are the walnuts and pecans.  Next time, I'll leave out the sunflower seeds for sure.  They are just not making their presence known.  But, it is really good.  I don't think I'll have to worry about what to do with the wheat germ and oat bran.  Maybe when I make it again, I'll even throw in some ground flax.  Fiber is good for you, you know.

So if you and yours are granola-eating tree-hugger types, this would make for good camp food.

This recipe halved

Ingredients

• 8 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups wheat germ
• 1 1/2 cups oat bran
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups raisins or sweetened dried cranberries

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
2. Combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through. Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.