Day 48: The Granola Recipe

I made a lot of granola yesterday.

Crunchy as I am, this was my first time making my own granola.  My good friend Julia provided me with her favorite recipe. 

She pointed out that the part of the recipe that calls for a Tablespoon of salt had to be a typo, so I went with a half teaspoon.  I also followed her recommendation to skip the coconut chips.  What is a coconut chip, anyway?  Is it like a chocolate chip or a peanut butter chip?  Or is it a chip of actual coconut?

Either way, it's not in my granola.

Here's what's in my granola:

2 & 3/4 cups oats
sunflower seeds
chopped pumpkin seeds
chopped pistachios
chopped pecans
chopped almonds
almond meal from making almond milk (I toasted it with cinnamon sugar)
chopped dried cherries
chopped dried dates
1/2 tsp salt

On the stove, I heated 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup real maple syrup and 1/3 cup olive oil.  I poured this over the mixture (minus the fruit), spread it on a pan lined with parchment, and cooked it at 300 for about a half hour, stirring a few times. I added the chopped fruit when it was done.

It was very tasty, but a little salty, so I made two more batches without the salt.  I added some cocoa powder and vanilla to the liquid instead.  When all three batches were done, I combined them.

Just right.

I guess the Savages like it, because they've been eating it constantly. They're snacking on it plain; they're eating it with almond milk.  They're feeding bits of it to the pets, who seem to like it as well. 

It's been a big hit.

Nice to know that the rest of the family is crunchy too!

:-)