kitchen sink granola

I'm feeling a little guilty about my one pound of butter post and decided to throw some balance into the mix.  Unfortunately, it's only good for you if you don't eat the entire half sheet in one sitting.  This is kind of a head/heart recipe as I mashed up a little Alton Brown with a little Deb Perelman but I've made it an embarrassing number of times and it always turns out great.  So let's get cooking!

First grab 3 cups of oats (I haven't tried quick cooking yet so I'm not sure what the variance would be?)

Throw it in a bowl with 1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut (This stuff is my crack addiction!  If you can't get Bob's try any unsweetened coconut from an asian grocery store or use the bagged sweet stuff.  But you might want to dial back the brown sugar (not that I would)).

Add 1/4 cup heavily packed brown sugar (light or dark)

Then I use a mix of whatever nuts I have on hand (pecans, almonds, and peanuts is my favorite so far) and blend about 2 cups worth in the food processor until chunky.  Add the nuts to the bowl and stir.

Now here's where you can let your imagination run wild.  I wanted mine to really clump up so I added everything I could think of.  My combo was 1/4 cup maple syrup (once I used Mrs. Butterworth's and it was fine)

Add 1/4 cup vegetable oil

a few Tablespoons of corn syrup

about 1/4 cup of peanut butter (if you don't use the peanuts in the nut mix)

about 1 Tablespoon of vanilla

and a few squeezes from the honey bear

It should be about a cups worth of liquid ingredients.  I also added a few shakes of cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon salt.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and spread it out on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 250 for about 40 minutes (stirring every fifteen to twenty minutes). 

When there's about 8-10 minutes left I stirred in one cup of dried cranberries (so they wouldn't have a burned flavor) 

Yours might take a little longer but just take it out when it's a nice golden brown color.

Try to gather any self control you have and let it cool in the pan.  Then break it up into large clumps and it will store in a airtight container for...well I don't really know since ours hasn't lasted longer then two days.  You can have it with milk for breakfast or over ice cream in the middle of the night.  I think it makes the best lunch with some vanilla yogurt and fruit.  

I have to hide the Tillamook vanilla bean in the very back of the fridge so my kiddos won't find it.  I am a lot of fun to live with.  Let me tell you.

This will be the best granola you've ever had!  I promise you won't even miss the four sticks of butter.