Christmas Granola

I have a wonderful recipe to share today.  I call this my Christmas Granola because, well, it tastes like Christmas.  Cranberries, pistachios, molasses, maple syrup, cinnamon, cloves... see what I mean?  Making granola is so easy and much less expensive than buying it in a store.  Have you priced those fancy granolas lately (or any dry cereal for that matter)?  Good grief!  Make your own and pocket that extra money for something else, like really good chocolate, for instance.  If you double the recipe, you'll have plenty for yourself and some to give away.  This makes great gifts.

The first thing you need to do is melt the coconut oil and let it cool while you mix the dry ingredients.  In a large bowl, mix old fashioned oatmeal, shredded coconut, slivered almonds, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt.  When the oil is cool, pour it over the dry ingredients and mix well.  In a small bowl, mix maple syrup (the real thing), molasses and vanilla.  Add this to the oatmeal mixture and stir, until everything is well coated.

Spread the mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet.  A doubled recipe will make two sheets.  I always make double, because it's no big deal to make twice as much, and it seems like a good time investment.  All you need are a few more ingredients and a bigger bowl.  Parchment paper or a silpat silicone sheet keeps it from sticking to the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees, stirring every ten minutes.  I use a spatula and flip the granola on the outside into the center and move the mixture from the center to the edges.  The edges will brown more quickly.  It will probably take about 30 minutes to turn golden brown.  Watch it closely though, so it doesn't burn.  So sad when that happens.  It will become nice and crunchy as it cools.   I put it all back into a big bowl when it's cool and add the cranberries and pistachios.   The original recipe calls for white chocolate chips, and that would probably be good if you were eating it trail mix style.  I omitted the chips because I like my granola with milk and yogurt.

Now, isn't that pretty granola?

Christmas Granola

4 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups shredded coconut

1 cup slivered almonds

2 t. ginger

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. salt

1/8 t. cloves

2/3 cups coconut oil, melted and cooled

6 T. maple syrup

3 T. molasses

1 t. vanilla

1 cup lightly salted, roasted pistachios

1 cup dried cranberries

Mix together dry ingredients.  Pour coconut oil over and stir.

Combine maple syrup, molasses and vanilla.  Pour over oats.

Stir to evenly coat.  Spread on rimmed baking sheet, lined with 

parchment paper or silpat.   Stir and flip granola every 10

minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on sheets and then 

add pistachios and cranberries.