Granola Recipe

I referred to making granola in an earlier post, but never posted the recipe. We've been working from a recipe that I got from the Food Network's recipe website for nearly a year now, and I've tweaked it to the point that it gives us great, consistent results.

This makes a big batch, maybe 2 weeks' worth for a small family, but it keeps just fine in a sealed plastic container.

6 Cups rolled oats
1.5 Cups freshly-ground flax seeds
1.5 Cups wheat germ
1 Cup brown sugar
2 Cups shredded coconut
1 Cup toasted sunflower seeds
3 Cups other nuts (we use walnuts and pecans), chopped
1 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup maple syrup (real)
2 T. salt
1 T. vanilla paste

1. Pre-heat oven to 275°
2. Mix the dry ingredients.
   
3. Mix the wet ingredients.
4. Combine and mix until well coated.
   
5. Spread mixture evenly over two half-sheet pans.
6. Bake on bottom rack until well-browned and dry (maybe 1 hour).
7. Turn pieces over, lower oven to 200°, bake another 45 minutes to ensure it's fully dried and crunchy.

(my blogger software is changing the numbers on that list to little flowers, for some unknown reason. Somone who knows html, could you write me on how to fix that?)

It's a great breakfast option to have on hand for everyday, get-out-of-the-house type eating, combined with some nice creamy yogurt, or just milk.

I used a vanilla paste that's made by Rodelle Vanilla that's just fantastic as well. Vanilla paste is the actual pulp from the vanilla beans, pre-scraped and mixed with a bit of extract and corn syrup, so the texture is nice for this kind of application. If I poured vanilla extract straight onto the granola, it would quickly soak into only a few chunks; this pasty stuff allows it to thoroughly mix with the dry, sticky granola ingredients.

(full disclosure--they sent me some swag after I did a review of their whole vanilla beans that I buy at Costco)

No long commentary here. Truth is, I'm doing some late Spring cleaning and I almost threw out the original recipe. I haven't re-written it with the alterations, and just wanted to get it down somewhere that I wouldn't lose it. Paper is so obsolete.