Granola Recipe

[liralen]

As a couple folks asked for it in email, too...

This recipe evolved from Alton Brown's recipe and several other granola recipes I looked up. It was shaped by my oven, which has some hot spots, and by Jet's preference to use just one measuring cup for all the nuts, sugar, and the maple syrup. Since I couldn't get the cup out of his hand, I used it for everything.

I found that putting the sugar/syrup on the stuff before toasting it let the stuff clump and got it good and crispy, which just toasting them alone won't do.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees, line a half sheet pan with parchment paper, or use two cookie sheet pans and line them with parchment paper.

Mix together in a large mixing bowl:
3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup cashew pieces
1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
1/4 cup pecan meal or pecan pieces
1/4 cup of any of the nuts you prefer

In a small glass (or just a cereal bowl) mix:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tbs honey
(optional, if you don't have parchment paper) 2 Tbs canola oil

Nuke the liquids for about 30 seconds, 'til warm and easily mixed together, and the sugar can dissolve a bit. Mix in
1/4 to 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Pour the liquid onto the dry and stir/fold together until the grains and nuts have gotten coated with the goo. Then spread onto your pan(s) and toast in your oven. I like turning the mixture every 15 minutes or so, and with my oven about 40 minutes of toasting, all together, makes it what I want it to be, i.e. crisp but not burnt. Take it out and cool it to room temperature.

Then I mix in about a cup of mixed, chopped, dried fruit (whatever happens to need to be eaten at the moment), and store it in an airtight container and it'll last a good month if you don't eat it sooner.