Feb 5, 2010

Perfect Granola



I LOVE love love granola. Specially on top of some plain yogurt, fruit and honey. But every time I think about buying one at the store I just can't get over the amount of sugar and crazy calories that they usually have. So I've been making my own for a while. I remember my mom making it at home growing up and just loving the smell of it in the oven. I finally found a recipe that I totally love and always comes out perfect. Its a mix of ingredients I like, and this Honey Almond Granola recipe


Ingredients::
4 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup of almonds (I like buying them whole and chopping them myself, but you can just get the silvered ones)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut 
1/2 light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of honey 

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbs vanilla extract

Directions::
Preheat oven to 325ยบ
In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
In a small bowl, mix all wet ingredients. Pour it on top of the nuts and mix well.
Spread into 2 baking sheets, it's better to separate the mix in 2 so the granola cooks evenly and gets crunchy, not soggy. 
Bake for about 10 min, mix, then cook for another 5. Keep an eye on it, you don't want it to burn!
Let cool completely, then transfer to a tupperware and keep covered. I've read it keeps well for 2 weeks only, but I keep mine for about 4 weeks. Just cover it well.

You can also add dry cranberries, raisins or even chocolate chips. Also, if you don't have all the ingredients i have in here don't worry — use what you have, just make sure you have about 5 1/2 cups total of nuts/oats so the balance is right with the wet ingredients. Enjoy!