baked!: granola.

i'm going to be honest with you: this granola, to me, is more like oatmeal cookie crumbs. there's nothing too unhealthy in it, but it's definitely more cookie-like than you might expect. so, yes--disclaimer.

that being said, it's also seriously delicious.

i've never been a big granola person. i like the idea of it, but firstly, it often contains raisins, and i hate raisins with a burning passion. i don't know from where that hatred comes, but it's intense. (i have a similar aversion to fig newtons; something bad that was related to purple fruit obviously happened to me as a child.) secondly, it never tastes particularly fresh to me -- so again, i thought, what's the point?

but then emily posted about her experience making alton brown's granola -- and echoed many of my sentiments re: freshness -- and i decided i needed to try out the recipe. so i did. i mixed together oats, coconut, almonds, cashews, a little brown sugar, a little good-quality maple syrup, a touch of vegetable oil. and what resulted was delicious; i shared some with my boss and my coworker and they both loved it. it's crunchy and fresh-tasting and, best of all, you know what actually goes into it. i'm big on that; it's one of the reasons i prefer to bake my own treats and, lately, cook most of my own food.

and yes, now i'm officially a granola convert. my favorite way to eat it is atop vanilla yogurt, mixed with sliced fresh bananas, but i'm not above grabbing handfuls of it from a bag, either. so without further ado, here's the recipe, made with emily's tweaks from alton brown's original.

homemade granola
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashews
3/4 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp good-quality maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

photo by me