Fruit & Nut Granola

I love having granola for breakfast!  I remember always wanting to have some granola whenever we had it in the house as a kid, it seemed like the kind of food grown ups ate, sort of like Grape Nuts only way better! The biggest down fall to granola is the really yummy stuff is sort of expensive, especially if it has lots of fruit and nuts, just the way I like it!  That's fine though, they can keep their expensive granola because this stuff is so simple to make at home! It takes almost no time and the joys of making it yourself is you know exactly what is going into it and you can customize your ingredients depending on your tastes!  Like I said, I love mine with lots of fruit and toasted nuts so I tend to use quite a bit of them in my recipe.  Feel free to adjust this to your tastes and try out different ingredients like coconut and various seeds, nuts and fruits.

In a medium bowl combine your oats and sunflower seeds.

Roughly chop your pecans and almonds and 

add to the oats.  Lightly sprinkle on sea salt if using.

Mix well to combine.

In a smaller bowl, mix together the honey, oil and vanilla.

Stir until completely combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the oat mixture.

Stir until evenly coated.

Spread onto a silicone line baking sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 300 F.

Lightly mix in dried fruit.  Bake another 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before removing for clumpier granola, mix well for smaller, smooth granola.

Scoop into jars or air tight bags to store.

Fruit & Nut Granola
Makes 3-4 cups

2 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup pecans
sea salt, to taste
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup dried fruit (I used raisins and cranberries)

Start by preheating the oven to 300 F.

In a medium mixing bowl, add in the oats and sunflower seeds.  Roughly chop the pecans and almonds and then add to the oat mixture. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt if you are using unsalted nuts for a little bit of dimension in flavor. Stir well to combine.  In a smaller bowl, stir together the honey, oil and vanilla until well mixed.  Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir well until evenly coated.  Spread the mixture out on a silicone mat lined baking sheet or lightly spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove the granola and lightly mix in the dried fruit.  Return to the oven for another 10 minutes.  This allows the fruit to get a little crispy without drying out all the way or burning.  Keep and eye on your granola at this point because it can quickly go from deliciously toasty and crunchy to burnt!  If you want a chunkier granola, which is what I prefer, allow it to cool completely before removing form the sheet to store.  If you would like a smaller, smoother granola, mix the granola now to break up the clumps.  Store at room temperature for up to a week or two.  It will keep a bit longer in the fridge, up to three weeks is about as long as I've been able to keep the stuff around!  It works great as breakfast over yogurt or with milk or as an afternoon snack! Who knows, I might take a jar to keep in my desk...Enjoy!