Alan's Blog of Randomness: Coconut Almond Granola

The following is a recipe for granola that I make about once a week for the family. It really says something that my kids still choose this granola over just about anything else even after 6 months of eating it on a fairly regular basis. As written, this recipe makes a very large amount that takes 3 pans to cook it all so you may want to divide it down.

You can cook this in the regular oven if you choose, but I like the microwave because it leaves the granola a little chewy and I find it more convenient. The conventional oven tends to make the granola more crunchy. The first time I cooked it in the oven and burned the whole batch pretty badly. I then began to cook it in the microwave, first for 12 minutes. After a while I found that 11 min seems to be about perfect for my oven and pan size. That extra minute would sometimes cause small portions to get too done.

Coconut Almond Granola

Adapted from http://bakingbites.com/2009/04/coconut-almond-granola/

Dry Ingredients:
    12 cups rolled oats
    8 cups puffed rice cereal
    shredded coconut
    sliced almonds

Wet Ingredients:
    3 tsp ground cinnamon
    3 tsp ground ginger
    2 tsp salt
    2 cups brown sugar
    2 cup plain applesauce
    3/4 cup honey
    3 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium sized bowl, stir together wet ingredients and spices. In a large bowl, stir together oats, puffed rice cereal, shredded coconut and almonds. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir well making sure there are no dry pockets.

Combine in a glass baking dish - microwave on HIGH for 11 min - stirring after every 3 min (2 min on the last set.) This will vary of course, with several factors such as the size and depth of your pan, the power of your microwave, etc.

After it is cool, fluff with a fork or whatever you have handy. Store in a tight container.