Healthy Delicious Homemade Granola

Never buy granola from the store again! This tastes so much better than anything you could buy - and you can customize this to put more of what you like and less of what you don't!

Please note: This recipe was adapted off of Rachel Ray's Addictive Granola recipe. I made a "Healthier" version by cutting down on some of the sugar and butter! It still tastes great - without overloading it with sweets and fat! I also made a bigger batch than her recipe called for, so I could store and save more for later.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of Oats
• 2 cups of Almonds (I left 1/4 of a cup of them whole, and crushed the rest)
• 1 cup of Sweetened Coconut Flakes
• 2 cups of Chopped Walnuts
• 1/2 cup of Brown Sugar, packed
• 4 tablespoons of Honey
• 3 teaspoons of Cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons of Butter (if yo have Coconut Oil on hand, you can replace 2 tablespoons of butter with that)
• 1/2 teaspoon of Salt

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 2:
In a large bowl, pour in the oats. Crush the almonds in a bag or with a mortar and pestle - add to the bowl. Add coconut flakes, walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well.

Step 3:
Place a small saucepan on the burner over low heat. Once heated, add the butter (and coconut oil, optional), salt and the honey. Once melted, take it off the burner and pour over granola mixture and all ingredients - mix really well with wooden spoon (and hands if you're careful not to burn yourself).

Step 4:
Spread the granola out onto the baking sheets as evenly as possible - it's ok if the layer is fairly thick (ie: an inch or so in height).  But much thicker of a layer, will require you to either bake longer, or do another batch after the first has been taken out and cooled. Bake for 40-45 minutes total. Every 15 minutes, pull it out enough so you can stir and move the granola off the edges and mix it around for even cooking.

Step 5:
The granola should be a golden color and the nuts will be soft when done. Don't worry - once it cools they will harden. It is advised to not overcook this stuff! Once it has cooled, remove it from the pan and seal it up in airtight containers. I keep mine in the fridge - and it lasts a long time.

According to the original recipe, it can stay fresh at room temperature in air tight containers for up to two weeks, or freeze for up to three months or longer.

Lastly, if you find it's not sweet enough for your taste, then you can always melt a bit more butter and brown sugar and pour it over your batch of granola. Or, just add more the next time around. Personally, I think this is just sweet enough but still very natural and healthy.

My favorite way to eat this:
-Slice up whatever fruit you have into chunks. I prefer to peel and cut apples into chunks.
-Add some yoghurt.
-Top it off with some delicious homemade granola!
It's my favorite snack!