Best Homemade Granola Yet

I was craving granola on Saturday. Not sure why – just one of those inexplicable dietary yearnings. Often when I’m craving something specific, I feel it’s my body’s way of alerting me “TANK LOW ON …” and I make sure to oblige. So Saturday found me making granola.  We were out of wheat germ and had only quick oats, plus I really wanted some crunch and chew, so rather than stick to my tried and true Maple Brown Sugar Granola, I decided to concoct something new.  Here’s what I came up with. This granola is sweet, but subtly so. It’s super crunchy, but in NO way/shape/or form jaw breaking.  Nothing worse than rock hard granola. The raisins and cranberries are stirred in after the cereal has fully cooled, so they stay soft and pliable. The tiny bit of shredded coconut lends a lot of flavor without much sodium. I used sweetened coconut in mine because it’s what we had on hand, but unsweetened coconut is so low in sodium you could put in a lot more. This recipe is just so tasty!!  We kept nibbling on it plain all weekend long, but it’s also amazing with milk or yogurt.  Hope you enjoy it too!

Yields 10 cups.

SODIUM CONTENT:  20 mg per cup

INGREDIENTS:

6 c. quick oats
1 1/4 c. unsalted chopped nuts (your choice – I used almonds, cashews and macadamias)
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1 c. pure maple syrup
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 T. pure vanilla extract
1 c. seedless raisins
1 c. dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get out two 9- x 13-inch baking dishes and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, chopped nuts, shredded coconut, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Add the maple syrup, oil and vanilla and stir until everything is thoroughly coated. Divide the mixture between the two baking dishes. Place dishes on middle rack in oven and bake until golden brown, roughly 30 minutes.  Remove pans from oven every 7 minutes, stirring mixture, then returning to oven. Once golden, remove pans from oven and set aside to cool fully. Once fully cooled, stir the raisins and cranberries into the mixture. Store in an airtight container.