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Homemade Granola, delicious crunchy, sweet, crispy and fruity.
I remember eating granola as a kid; my mom made the most amazing granola.
Doused in chilled milk or snatched from a bag in my tiny fist, my mom’s granola was better than any boxed version.
As an adult and admitted food and recipe obsessed person, it’s somewhat embarrassing to admit that homemade granola is one thing I’ve never tackled. (until now
One of my favorite go-to recipe blogs, fellow redhead and all around favorite people ever, Heather of Home Ec-101, posted the Easiest Homemade Granola Ever recipe and I must admit, I was inspired.
Y’all know me though, I can’t leave a recipe alone; I am compelled to tweak and twiddle and mess with every recipe that I come across.
I now have what I believe to be the MOST amazingly delicious homemade granola recipe ever.
Mixing the ingredients for this ridiculously easy, filling and delicious granola takes less than 5 minutes, baking it to crispy, golden heavenly perfection takes about an hour to an hour and a half.
Mix Oats, coconut, walnuts and almonds* together in your largest mixing bowl
Top with your binding mixture of honey, vegetable oil, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon and applesauce
Mix together until all ingredients are perfectly blended.
Divide and place on two baking sheets (your cooking time will differ if your baking sheets are dark or light)
Bake at 250 for 1 hour 20 minutes on light or 1 hour 10 minutes on dark non-stick, stir and mix every now and then, you want the granola to turn a lovely golden color, they will crisp up after they’re out of the oven. ( 20 minute intervals works well)
Remove from the oven, allow to cool.. add in dried cranberries, raisins, dried cherries (I would have added dried apples and nectarines if I’d had them)
This is amazing served in a bowl cereal style with ice cold milk
or by the handful. It’s healthy, chock full of anti-oxidents and all that yumminess without the preservatives and cost of the store bought kind.
Seriously, $4ish dollars for less than a pound of store bought granola or $4 for 2 gallon size bags (if you make two batches like I did) chock full of homemade healthy granola[/donotprint]
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Recipe: Homemade Granola
Ingredients
- 6 C oats (NOT the quick cooking ones)
- 1 C sliced almonds
- 1 C chopped walnuts
- 1 1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1 C applesauce
- 1/2 C honey
- 2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 C raisins
- 1 C dried cherries
- 1 C dried cranberries
- or dried apples, nectarines etc….
Instructions
- In your biggest mixing bowl, mix together; oats, almonds, walnuts and coconut
- In a small bowl mix together: 1/2 C honey, 1 C applesauce, 2 Tbsp vanilla, 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- Pour the applesauce mixture over the oat mixture and combine thoroughly. Use your hands (preferred) or a spoon and mix until thoroughly combined
- Spread the mixture over two baking sheets and bake at 250 F for about 1 hour 20 minutes.
- If the baking sheet is light it will take about 1 hour 20 minutes, if it’s dark/non-stick it will take about 1 hour (these are {abouts} it will depend on your oven, you want the granola to have turned a lovely golden brown. It will get crispy after it’s removed from the oven and allowed to cool
- stir the granola every 20 minutes
- remove from the heat and allow to cool, this is when it will crisp up
- add in dried fruit: cranberries, raisins, cherries, apples etc…
- this recipe will yield 1 gallon sized storage bag
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*apparently the Print plug-in is broken, AGAIN! GRRRRRR.. As always, you can use the Print Friendly button to print the recipe with or without images and deleting whatever text isn’t relevant.
thank y’all for linking up and for y’all’s patience with the print/recipe plug-in issues! I love seeing what y’all are making. Thank you so much for sharing! Don’t forget, link up your recipe URL, leave a comment, link back here in your post and don’t forget to visit the other participants!!!
psssssst: I’m nominated for the Tastiest Blog Award and I’d REALLY appreciate your votes! I’m up against some really major competition!
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Hey thanks for the love and I’m glad it inspired your recipe, which I will be trying out in the morning.
Heather Solos´s most recent brilliance ..Knife Sharpening Tutorial
Hey you! You’re frequently inspiration for me
Can’t wait to hear what you think!
xo
I’m definitely trying it this week. Yummo!
Hollee Temple´s most recent brilliance ..The Gratitude Notebook
Hollee, I’m so excited you’re cooking so much! YAY Hollee!!!!!!
Thanks so much for hosting! That granola look awesome!
~Liz
Liz@HoosierHomemade´s most recent brilliance ..4th of July Celebration Food and Decorating
Thank you ma’am! That’s a huge compliment coming from someone who always has such delicious looking food!
I love making my own granola! I don’t get too very often anymore (gluten free oats can be expensive) but I definitely have fond memories of it
I love how packed with flavor and different textures yours is!
~Aubree Cherie
Aubree Cherie´s most recent brilliance ..Seasoned Sweet and Spicy Salsa- Very Cherry-
Thank ya ma’am! I didn’t realize GF oats would be so much more expensive
boo 
The different flavors and textures are what make this granola so delicious!
It looks so good!!
amy2boys´s most recent brilliance ..Bobby Flays Pimento Cheese-Bacon Burgers
I have used the handy-dandy printer friendly thing and printed, baby! This looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it! My family loves things like this! I am off to make a grocery list!
Thanks for sharing, Rachel!
Krissa´s most recent brilliance ..The Chico Rooster
YAY! So glad the printer friendly worked for you!
I love the WP print because it puts the print button right above the formatted recipe and only prints that but, for some reason today when I used it.. it deleted the recipe from the post
GRRRR someday I’ll get it all worked out!
Enjoy! Thank you for visiting and commenting! YOU ROCK!
This granola looks wonderful! I may have to cut down the recipe because when it comes to granola, I CANT stop eating until it is all gone. This would be delicious over yogurt!
Natalie´s most recent brilliance ..Berry Pie Bars… and Pots-
Hey Natalie!! It’s SO yummy! This recipe makes 1 gallon sized baggie a bit more than 3/4 full
It is AWESOME over granola which is totally my favorite way to eat granola! Can’t believe I didn’t put that in the recipe (this is why I shouldn’t write recipes late at night!)
We love granola- I have my favorite recipe, but I’m tempted to try this with applesauce-very unusual! Thanks for hosting!
Jami @ An Oregon Cottage´s most recent brilliance ..Back To Basics- Simple Breads To Make
The applesauce gives it such an amazing sweetness and means that I don’t have to use as much oil as in other recipes
which rocks!
I love homemade granola…if it weren’t so darn hot here I would make some, but with 95+ degree days, I don’t want to turn on my oven. It’ll have to wait until it cools down a bit. I like the addition of the applesauce. I have never done that before.
Thanks for the carnival.
Kristia@FamilyBalanceSheet´s most recent brilliance ..Grilled Garlic Lemon Shrimp
Homemade granola is one of my favorite breakfasts. I have a recipe I’ll be posting in a few weeks too!
Allison @ Alli ‘n Son´s most recent brilliance ..Budget Boot Camp Week 1- Meal Plan
thanks for sharing will fix this for my kids they will love it
Oh, this looks delish! I adore homemade granola!
Articles like this are an example of quick, hepfull answers.
We are granola fanatics at my place! This is going to be our road trip snack (TX to MD). Can a family live on granola alone?
I love this granola. Would you link it to My Meatless Mondays at my blog.
http://sweetsav.blogspot.com/2010/07/blog-post.html
I am so going to try this. It looks great! Hope ya’ll didn’t get too much rain!!!!
Kelly M.´s most recent brilliance ..Happy 4th of July
I LOVE homemade granola!!! Another thing to add to my list of “things to do”!!!
Thanks for hosting! 
Queen of the House´s most recent brilliance ..Homemade Raspberry Freezer Jam
Yummy! I love Bare Naked granola but hate paying the price. I’m making this recipe!
Heather´s most recent brilliance ..Who Is This Girl in the Mirror
Oh my gosh, this looks SO good. We love granola at our house. And it is expensive. I’m putting this at the top of my must-make list.
Rebecca at Toothwhale´s most recent brilliance ..Tabouli
Thanks for the link. Now, I won’t forget it. I check these meatless dishes, whenever I can. You must know how many good recipes, we get this way.
Love the applesauce – will be adding that to my tried and true granola recipe. Did you know you can do the cooking part in your crock pot – helps ease the oven+summer heat combo! Hope your trip is FUN!
Ohhhh, I’m not much of a cook (AT ALL), but this sounds tasty, and something that MAYBE I can handle.
I just might give this a shot. 
Kellee´s most recent brilliance ..Leaving on a Jetplane
Granola looks delish! Thanks for hosting – always great fun exploring the yummy treats everyone has made!
Cath@dunnntoperfection.blogspot.com´s most recent brilliance ..The Cookbook ChallengeTV Chefs
Found this by way of One2One! Looks and sounds amazing – I’ll be making this soon! Thanks!
Katie´s most recent brilliance ..Excuse the mess!
You completed some fine points there. I did a search on the topic and found most folks will consent with your blog.