So this morning a member of my cooking group posted about making homemade granola. It got me thinking about trying to make a batch myself. I love granola, but the fresh granola that is available at any of the local farmers’ markets has been climbing in price to a point that I can’t justify the cost for what it is.

Now my mother has a granola recipe that she has used for years, but I just don’t like it. Too many ingredients and too many nuts and seeds. So I went hunting for a recipe I liked better.

I found two recipes I liked and combined them. One recipe is from epicurious.com and one recipe is from Real Simple.

Here is how I combined them:

Preheat your oven to 300°F

Ingredients
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)

1 cup chopped almonds

1 cup shredded UNSWEETENED coconut

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white raisins

1/2 cup dark raisins

4 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

Directions:

Mix everything EXCEPT for the raisins together in a large mixing bowl.

Line a rimmed baking sheet or jellyroll pan with a piece of parchment paper.

Spread your mixture from your mixing bowl evenly on the pan.

Place in preheated oven (300°) . Bake until a golden toasty brown color approximately 40 minutes. Make sure that you stir the granola around on the cookie sheet approximately every 10 minutes while you are baking. You need to do this to make sure the granola bakes evenly. This is also why you have to use a jellyroll pan or another kind of baking sheet with a big enough lip or your granola will end up all over your oven.

Once granola is cooked, bring out of your oven and cool in the pan for about 20 minutes to half an hour. Stir in your raisins. Allow granola to come to room temperature and store in airtight containers. I like using canning jars for this purpose.

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!