Sunday Granola

I've been wanting to make my own granola for a while now. I was always told how easy it is to make but I just couldn't find a recipe that I wanted to try until I saw this one on Spoon With Me, a fabulous blog by Jennifer Morgenthaler. It's a recipe that she adapted from Neal Fraser's Fruit and Nut Packed Granola, via Food and Wine. So simple, and so yummy. I've typed the recipe verbatim from her blog, but I altered my granola a little bit. Paul is not big fan of coconut so I omitted it. I used dried cranberries and blueberries ('cause that's what I had on hand), and rough chopped 1 cup each cashews and almonds, and a half cup each pecans and walnuts. Delicious!

Sunday Granola:

1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup honey

1/3 (packed) cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3-3/4 cups rolled oats

1 cup finely grated unsweetened coconut

3 cups (12 ounces) raw unsalted nuts (she used 3 oz each of unsalted pistachios, cashews, pecans, and sliced almonds)

2 cups (10 ounces) mixed dried fruit such as golden raisins, cranberries, blueberries, cherries, apples, etc.

1 cup fresh orange juice

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine butter, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, vanilla extract and salt. Simmer until the butter is melted and the brown sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl combine the oats, shredded coconut and nuts. Add the brown sugar mixture and stir to thoroughly coat. Spread the granola on the baking sheets, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until a deep golden color) stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine the dried fruit and orange juice in a medium bowl and let stand until fruit is plumped, about an hour. Drain the fruit in a strainer, pressing down the fruit to remove excess juice. Discard the liquid. Stir the fruit into the granola on the baking sheet. Bake for an additional five minutes.

Let the granola cool completely. It will crisp up as it cools. After cooling the granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks. To re-crisp, bake in a 275 degree oven for 15 minutes.