Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Homemade Cranberry Granola


I'm a huge fan of granola or anything with oats for that matter, especially oatmeal cookies!!  This afternoon I decided to try my hand at making my own homemade granola from scratch.  I just put the ingredients together that I enjoy and luckily it turned out (you never know when you are making up your own recipe)!

So if you have an extra minutes one of these days, whip up a big batch of this yummy granola for you and your family.  First of all this recipe will make your house smell A-mazing! It's also great for breakfast, served with milk or over yogurt, makes a healthy crunchy snaking food, and would be "oh so good" on top of some vanilla ice cream!

The Cottage Mama's Homemade Granola

Ingredients:
3 cups traditional oats
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened)
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/4 cup walnut pieces
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup honey (I used really good local honey)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I love cinnamon, so if you don't, you may want to use less)
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the following; oats, coconut, pecan pieces, walnut pieces, honey, and vegetable oil.  Mix until thoroughly combined.

Once combined, spread mixture out onto a large baking sheet.  Place baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Oat mixture is ready to come out of the oven once it has reached a nice, toasted golden color.

Immediately after you remove the oat mixture from the oven add the brown sugar and stir to combine.  This will allow the sugar to melt into the granola.

After the granola has cooled add your dried cranberries.  Store granola in an air-tight container and enjoy!!


Cottage Mama's Note:  You can change up the ingredients easily with this recipe.  Add any type of dried fruit you like (i.e. raisins, apricots, apples, cherries) and feel free to change up the type of nuts you use as well.

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