How To Make Granola

I am a big eggs-for-breakfast fan, but Hubs is all about his granola. I make this for him to have on the days that 1) he doesn't feel like eggs, or 2) I don't feel like cooking (early mornings, anyone?). I prefer this over hot or cold cereal because it only takes one bowl to fill you up. I normally use nuts OR coconut, but not both.

Basic Granola

Cost per recipe: varies with ingredients- $3.32  without *optional ingredients.

Ingredients:

7 cups oats (either kind)
*2 cups unsweetened coconut
*1 1/2 cup nuts

1 cup melted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sugar, *honey, *maple syrup, or other sweetener
1/2 tsp salt

*dried fruit

Instructions:

1. Mix top four ingredients and any other additional dry ingredients (wheat germ, flax seed, chia seed, etc.) in a large mixing bowl.

2. Melt together butter, milk, sweetener and salt in a small saucepan to get a syrupy mixture.

3. Pour syrup over dry ingredients and mix until everything is coated.

4. Bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees F. Stir.

5. Bake another 15 minutes at 225 degrees F. Stir.

6. Bake yet another 10 minutes.

7. Turn off the oven and let bake for another hour.

After the granola is all baked, add optional fruit if desired. Adding the fruit afterward prevents it from getting hard in the oven.

Note: Hubs likes a chunky, less-stirred granola. I prefer a finer, more-stirred granola. I didn't know this until I made a 'bad' batch with big, hard parts and Hubs told me he really liked it. What the heck!? Different strokes for different folks.