This granola recipe is becoming a staple in our house – it is certainly a staple in my mother’s house. Whenever we come to visit, we can always count on a big tin of granola to eat throughout our stay. You can have it for breakfast with milk, for lunch with yogurt, and for dessert after dinner with ice-cream. Yes, I seem to focus my meals around the granola… Of course my kids just like it plain – and so do I – it is the perfect snack food. What I also love about this granola is how easy it is to substitute your favorite dried fruit or nuts. I highly suggest the slivered almonds though because they are so thin that they stick nicely to the oats. Instead of dried cranberries – I used Trader Joes Dried Berry Medley. This granola stays crunchy for days – especially when stored in a tin. This is my mother’s recipe – enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup slivered almonds
- 3/4 cup pecan halves
- 1/3 cup frozen concentrated cranberry juice cocktail, thawed
- 3 T brown sugar, packed
- 3 T canola oil
- 3 T honey
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/2 C dried cranberries
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325 convection, 350 regular.
Bake on parchment lined half sheet pan. Combine oats, almonds, and pecans in large bowl. Combine juice, brown sugar, oil, honey, cinnamon and allspice in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Pour hot syrup over oat mixture and stir to coat evenly. Spread mixture onto prepared baking sheet. Bake carefully for 10 minutes. Mix the granola, and add the dried fruit. Bake 5 minutes more until toasted looking. The granola will not be crunchy at this point – and that’s good. Remove and press down on the granola to flatten out, using additional parchment paper so it doesn’t stick to your hands.
Let it cool – and store in a tin container for best results.
For a printer friendly version of this recipe, click here: Cranberry Almond Granola
First Look, Then Cook 