My First Homemade Granola

Well I'll definitely be making this again! I had to leave out nuts and coconut since The Husband doesn't like those, but we love granola in general so I've always wanted to make it. I have a gigantic oatmeal canister and I had some leftover dried cranberries from last week's apple, pear and cranberry crisp... so homemade granola came to mind. I looked online for recipes on making "clumpy" granola... when I buy those artisan granolas from the store for like $6, I get annoyed when the oats are all separated. I found a few recipes and decided to alter it for our taste.

Clumpy Lumpy Homemade Cranberry Granola

Preheat oven to 250

Mix in a bowl:
4 cups old fashioned oatmeal
3/4 cup sunflower seeds (mine were roasted and salted so I didn't add additional salt)
3/4 cup dried cranberries (I think I added less because all recipes said to add them after baking.. I only added a few prior to baking and they turned out great - I'll add a bunch more next time, about 3/4 cup sounds good)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix in a microwaveable measuring cup:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pop the measuring cup with all of those ingredients into the microwave for 1 minute. Pour into the oats/seeds mixture and mix to coat the oats evenly.

Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, it is good to have it one big solid "bar" of granola... that way it will bake into a solid sheet and you can break it up into big clumps later. Cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil and bake in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes.

Let cool. The sheet of granola should be ready to break off into as big of clumps and lumps as you like, with still some loose granola for you also. This would be a great addition to any boring cereals, yogurt, ice cream, or just as a tasty wholesome snack!

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