make this: Homemade Granola

YumOH! Last week I was looking for a good homemade granola recipe to pair with my plain yogurt. I had all the essential ingredients lined up in the pantry: oats, nuts, raisins, honey, brown sugar, dried coconut. Mmmm! Google came up with a few (thousand) recipes, and I peeked at a few of them...I scanned the recipes and judged the photos. With no personal references to any of these recipes, it was hard to tell which one would be just the right one. I wanted a keeper. And I found one!

I baked the homemade granola and it was AMAZING! The recipe was simple and flexible. I like flexible. I try to be flexible in baking (and I'm totally comfortable with not sticking to the exact recipe :) but I understand that's not for everyone. I made a double batch to make sure there would be plenty to share. Actually, scratch that. I accidentally poured 1/2 cup of honey into the bowl instead of 1/4 cup. It worked out anyways...I try to stay flexible! :)

When I checked my iPad later, to save the recipe...it was GONE! The page was closed. Boo! I quickly wrote down the ingredients and measurements that I had remembered. This was a recipe worth remembering and making again!

I wanted to share it with you :) it's flexed a bit, to what I used (and I can't take the credit!)...but you can substitute several ingredients to your liking and make it your own :)

Homemade Granola Recipe:

4 Cups Oats

1/2 Cup Honey

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla extract

6 Tbsps. Canola Oil

1 tsp salt (or less)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 Cup Raisins

1/4 Cup chopped Pecans 

Handful of dried coconut (to your liking)

1/2 Cup Chocolate chips 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix oats, honey, and brown sugar with oil. You may need to use your hands! Add the cinnamon, salt (less is more, but it's a great salty-sweet combo), and continue mixing. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, scrape pan and flip granola. Add remaining toppings (but hold the chocolate chips). Place in oven again and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Use your best judgement on the crispy-ness of the granola. The granola will bake a little bit longer after it is removed from the oven.  Let the pan cool and then store in an airtight container. Add chocolate chips and mix. 

and then...ENJOY!

I hope you make this!

Megan