PAM'S HOMEMADE GRANOLA

My friend Pam has been making granola and sharing her pictures with me. I have to admit she has made me drool quite a bit.  She was gracious enough to share her recipe with me and in doing so I am sharing with you.  

Pam is one of my oldest and dearest friends.  She is the girl who everyone loves.  She has ALWAYS been here for me and I hope in my own way I have been there for her.  Our kids are close in age and when they were younger we had so much fun at the ball field, the pool, and the zoo.  Pam kids are by age, Tyler, Brittany, and Hope being the youngest.  My two are MacKenzie and Erik.  If you combine all 5 kids it was Tyler, MacKenzie, Erik, Brittany and then Hope.  Besides the zoo trips one of my fondest memories was when the older 4 would go to back to school and the pool was still open so Pam and I would go with Hope.  We had such fun at the pool with only one kid.  It was nice because the pool was pretty much deserted.  Oh goodness, the memories, Pam when you read this do you remember the frogs at the pool? 

I have to say this recipe does ROCK.  I had just made yogurt with some sweetened condensed milk and added the granola to the top of it.  Divine goodness exploded in my mouth.

While the recipe takes a lot of ingredients it is well worth. Also, you do not have to use the dried fruit.  That is entirely optional. 

I like to get all my ingredients out on the counter before making a recipe.

It really is a simple recipe, add all your dry ingredients to a bowl.

Mix the ingredients together.

Then mix the wet ingredients, water, oil and maple syrup into a medium bowl.  

Pour the wet into the larger bowl with your dry ingredients and mix well.  Make all the dry ingredients are coated.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and dump evenly onto the sheets and spread out.

Bake on 300 for 10 minutes and then "stir".  Bake another 10 minutes take out stir again then rearrange the baking sheets in the oven.

Cook another 10 minutes.  

Every oven differs so with mine I did the 30 minutes but it was almost too much.  I suggest for you to watch it closely after the initial 20 minutes. 

PAM'S HOMEMADE GRANOLA

ingredients

• 6 C old fashion oats
• 1 1/2 C slivered almonds (I used sliced)
• 1 1/2 C unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1 C whole wheat flour
• 3/4 C brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
• 1 t kosher salt
• 3/4 C melted coconut oil
• 1/2 C water
• 1/2 C pure maple syrup
• 2/3 C sweetened shredded coconut

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Combine oats, almonds. sunflower seeds, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, salt and shredded coconut mix well.
• In a different bowl add your oil, water, and maple syrup and mix well.
• Combine the wet ingredients with your dry ingredients until dry ingredients are completely moistened.
• Spread mixture onto your cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 minutes and stir
• Bake another 10 minutes and take out trays, stir then re-arrange them in the oven.
• Bake another 10 minutes.  Remember cooking time is different per oven.  

As I mentioned above, mine got a bit too done in the last 10 minutes so for my oven I would adjust the temperature next time and lower it to 250 for the next 10 minutes but I will also check it every few minutes to make sure it does not overcook.  Pam's recipe says to cook another 20 minutes so just be warned to be careful within the last timeframe of cooking.  

I also used a medley of raisins and cranberries in my mix.  I highly suggest if you add the dried fruit to either lower the amount of oats by a cup or to add more wet ingredients.  Maybe adjust the wet by adding a couple of tablespoons more water and maple syrup.  

I opted for dry roasted sunflower seeds because I got them cheaper at the dollar tree and omitted the salt.  

You can also use canola oil instead of the coconut oil and switch up the flour.  I keep whole wheat flour on hand due to making homemade sourdough bread.

Honestly, you can work with the recipe to make it far superior to the original one and most of my hints I got from Pam.  Cooking time and etc I had to adjust per my oven.

What a great snack to have around the house.  Thanks, Pam for sharing!

I actually made this earlier in the week and it has been my staple for breakfast and snacks ever since.

Hope you will give it a try.

ENJOY!!