Coconut Almond Granola

There are many granola recipes out there that I've viewed and planned on making someday, but somehow the 30-item list of ingredients deterred me from ever getting started.  Until now

In the newspaper recently I found a granola recipe and I had all of the ingredients in the pantry (which seems to be a theme for me lately), so I went for it. 

The granola was a delicious first attempt at making my own breakfast cereal.  The recipe calls for making a yogurt, fruit, and granola parfait, but it's great with milk, too.  Now I'm ready to try some more complicated granola recipes.  But not until every last morsel of these brown-sugar covered oats, almonds, coconut, and wheat germ concoction has been eaten!

Coconut Almond Granola
Recipe from the Baltimore Sun, developed by the Almond Board of California

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup flaked coconut
2 teaspoons wheat germ (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 F.  Combine oil, brown sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl, mixing until smooth.  Stir in oats.  Transfer mixture to a baking dish (Paige's note: I used a large rimmed baking sheet) and bake 15 minutes.  Stir in almonds, coconut, and wheat germ if desired, and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until almonds and coconut are golden and fragrant.  Cool.  Makes about 3 3/4 cups.  Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

breakfast granola

Comments

[Tania]

Unlike so many other granola recipes out there, this recipe also contains much less oil. Which is nice when you're trying to make something that's ostensibly healthy. I imagine adding some dried fruit would be nice: papaya, mango, cranberries ... yum!

[Paige]

Tania,
I think that dried fruit would be a great addition!

[Ivonne]

What a wonderful recipe! I love granola and like you tend to search out recipes. This is one that I'm definitely keeping and trying!