easy granola

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The first time I tried making granola, several years ago, was a tedious experience. I looked up a number of similar recipes online and settled on one that sounded good. It involved putting some dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl, then adding a bunch of sticky sweetener (honey) and mixing it all together before baking. Have you ever tried mixing a glob of room-temperature honey with a bowl of oats? It's really difficult! I ended up abandoning the mixing spoon and mashing it together with my hands, which was messy. Eventually I got it into the oven, where I eventually burned it (just a bit). I added some dried fruit, which was undoubtedly pricey, and tried some. It wasn't bad, even though it was a bit...caramelized, but it wasn't what I was after. I didn't even attempt making granola again until I ran across the recipe for Honey Granola at hillbillyhousewife.com.

What a difference! The dear Housewife had the brilliant idea of melting all the wet ingredients together in a big saucepan first, then stirring in the rolled oats. From there it transferred easily to the baking pan and the oven. I tried the recipe, doubling it and substituting a mixture of butter and canola oil for the margarine, and it was great! I didn't add any fruit or other extras; it was great just like that. Fast forward a couple of years, and I started making it with maple syrup instead of honey, and coconut oil instead of butter, and I added some vanilla. It was still great, and it sure disappeared fast when left out on the counter!

Here is the recipe I like to use, which is altered only slightly from the one at hillbillyhousewife.com:

6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, uncooked
1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup maple syrup (you can use real or artificial...if you're using honey instead, make it 3/4 cup honey)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 TBS vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium/large saucepan, melt together butter/coconut oil, canola oil, maple syrup/honey, salt, and vanilla extract over low heat, stirring frequently. When mixture is all melted together, pour in 6 cups oats and stir well with mixing spoon to thoroughly coat all the oats with the melted mixture. Transfer to large baking dish (I use a giant Pyrex lasagna dish, but you could also use a couple of glass pie pans or even two cookie sheets, if your cookie sheets are nonstick) and bake until granola is golden and toasted at the edges of the pan. I don't know how long this takes, since I never time it. Maybe give it ten minutes, then check on it and stir with a spatula, and determine for yourself at that point how much more toasted you want it to be. When it has reached its desired goldenness, remove from oven, stir again, and allow to cool on countertop until it has reached room temperature. It will get more crisp and less chewy. When cool, transfer to sealed container (I use a cool 2-qt canning jar* that Agiasophia gave me, but large ziplock bags and tupperware-type containers work great too). If you want to add additional ingredients, like dried fruit, stir them in when the granola comes out of the oven. I think dried apples would be delicious in this, but I haven't tried adding them yet. :-)

God bless,
Mrs. Bear

*This recipe makes enough to fill that jar, but the photo was taken after everyone had helped themselves to some, including Wee Bear who snuck up to the counter where the pan was cooling and gleefully helped himself to some granola with the serving spoon!