Granola

Our friends in our ward gave away a bag of granola to neighbors/friends for a Christmas goodie and after gobbling it up I decided I HAD to have that recipe! It's one of those you just have to share:

Granola

In a large bowl combine:
10 1/2 c. regular oats
2 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. wheat germ
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1/2 c. sliced almonds
1/2 c. unsalted roasted sunflowers seeds
1/4 c. sesame seeds

You can use all of none of the seeds and nuts above. Mix well in bowl so all of the ingredients are not in clumps.

In a small bowl mix:
1 c. water
1 c. oil
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Mix well so oil and water are not separated. Then quickly pour wet mixture over dry mixture and coat. All of the dry mixture should be coated and clumps start to form. Spray two 11x17 jelly roll pans with non-stick spray. Divide mixture in half and spread out on each pan. Bake in oven @ 235 for 3 hrs. Make sure it isn't completely dried out. Stir occasionally, not too often if you like it chunky. When done place on counter to finish drying. At this time you may add fruit, 3/4 C raisins, craisins, dried blueberries, apples, strawberries, peaches, etc.

Tips:
- Wheat germ is found on the top shelf on the cereal aisle (at least at Walmart that's the case).
- Unsalted sunflower seeds and sesame seeds are harder to find. I didn't use any. The girl I got the recipe from doesn't either, but sometimes she adds in chopped up pecans. For the fruit I just did craisins and it was really good.
- I don't have jelly roll pans so I just used one 11X17 and one 9X13 and divided the granola up between the two pans.
- You can cook for the full 3 hrs without ever stirring and it's not too dry and it's the perfect balance of chunks and non chunks in my opinion.
- Great with milk and fresh strawberries or raspberries!

I mentioned this recipe to Cami and she wondered if it's any cheaper to make granola than to just buy it. So I priced it all out and I figured it cost me about $5.00-$5.50 to make this recipe, using just coconut, almonds, and craisins as my additives, and it makes about 16 cups of granola. The box of granola we like costs $4.25 for 8 cups so making it is cheaper than that, but if you buy granola in bulk (like from the church) I'm not sure how the price would compare to making it. On the other hand if I bought my oats and brown sugar in bulk then the cost of those would go down too so making it would be cheaper than what I quoted. And it just always seems healthier when it's fresh and made in your own kitchen! Enjoy.