Almond Granola

The weather has been hot and humid lately, which greatly diminishes my desire for a hot bowl of oatmeal. I do love my oats, but thought that something cold to start the day would be better. Enter: Granola.

I'm not a fan of all those weird preservatives and additives that manufacturers put in their food, and granola doesn't seem to be any exception. So I made my own. Why not?

Almond Granola (from here)
makes: about 2 cups

2 T unsalted butter
2 T honey
1/4 c brown sugar
1.5 c rolled oats
1/3 c slivered or chopped almonds

Now I was supposed to put some coconut flakes or shreds in with the party, but I didn't have any, so I didn't use any. The original recipe called for 1/4 c shredded sweetened coconut.

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Melt butter and honey together over low heat. Stir in the sugar and stir and cook until it's dissolved.

2. Stir together the oats and almonds in a large bowl. And the coconut flakes too, if you're using them.

3. Pour the butter, honey, and sugar mixture over the oat mixture. Mix it all together well, so all of it is coated.

4. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. I stirred it every 5 minutes because I'm kind of nervous like that, but I imagine it would be okay to stir it every 10 minutes. Take it out of the oven when it's golden brown. It will smell really good.

5. Let cool completely on the sheet on a wire rack.

I like to eat mine with cold milk like cereal, with some banana chips or M&Ms mixed in. This is a really good all purpose recipe that you can use again and again for basic granola. :)