Granola with Cranberries, Raisins and Almonds

It’s official; I’ve hit that point in the winter where I’m sick and tired of all things winter. Snow, indoors, clanging pipes, ice, and yes, even hot chocolate. Especially after it was about sixty degrees here in Massachusetts on Friday I’ve got absolutely no desire to see snow any time soon. So today, in protest of winter, I decided to make something that’s not traditionally associated with any season, let alone winter. I decided to make my own granola. It’s something that I’ve wanted to make for a while and when I found the recipe last night I couldn’t wait (the fact that I had all of the ingredients only added to my excitement to make this recipe.

Granola from stores is surprisingly expensive for what it really is, and being a college student with about $3.78 in my bank account paying $4.50 for a 10 ounce bag of granola is not really feasible for me. And after making this recipe I don’t see why I’ll ever go back to paying so much for granola, it’s so simple and you can really do whatever you want with it!

The granola itself takes about 45 minutes to make, but it’s so incredibly easy and it tastes great. It’s crunchy, sweet, a little salty and it’s healthy! Who doesn’t want that in a snack?

Here’s what you’ll need: (Adapted from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking”)

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt*

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole almonds

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup dried cranberries

* I used 1 teaspoon of salt and it was too salty, which is something I never say, so for safety’s sake I’d lower it to ½ a teaspoon so that it doesn’t overpower the granola

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix the oats, salt and the cinnamon together. In a separate bowl mix the oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet ingredients onto the oats and mix them together with your hands. The best way to do this is to grab fistfuls of the ingredients until all of the oats are covered in the honey mixture.

Spread the combination of ingredients onto the baking sheet that you placed aside. Be sure to spread out the mixture evenly, but leave a few clumps like you would find in store-bought granola. Place baking sheet into the oven for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, take the sheet out of the oven and flip the granola with a spatula. Add the almonds and bake for fifteen minutes flipping the granola half way through.

When the sheet has cooled add the mixture of raisins and dried cranberries into the granola and put into an airtight container.

I promise you’ll love this recipe and you can mess around with the ingredients to make the granola however you like. You could add chocolate chips and peanuts to make it more like a traditional trail mix. You could even add more cinnamon and dried apples to make it like apple crisp! The possibilities are endless, so give it a try!