Wynne's extra special granola!

 When you have a friend named Wynne who's a FABULOUS cook, you sit up and take notice. I've never been a big fan of granola... until now.

Yum!

Pre-Heat oven to a LOW 275 degrees. Hotter and the nuts will scorch.

Makes about 20 snack-sized servings — 1/3 cup.

 Ingredients:

2 cups regular oatmeal (not steel cut, but the ‘ol Quaker kind, it is already cooked — did you know that?) – NOTE – Wynne doubles this.
1-2 cups large flake unsweetened coconut
2 cups RAW, UNSALTED cashews (if you don’t use raw nuts, they get too brown)
2 cups RAW, UNSALTED pecan halves
1 cup RAW UNSALTED almonds, or blanched almond slivers, (personal preference)
½ to ¾ cup maple syrup (DO NOT USE PANCAKE SYRUP!) grade A or B is fine, but it must be PURE maple syrup
½ cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp sea salt or kosher salt

Assembly:

Put the 2 cups of oatmeal in a large mixing bowl.

Add coconut 1-2 cups (depending on how much you like coconut, and be sure it is the LARGE flakes, not the grated kind, it won’t work that way.)

Combine oatmeal with the coconut and mix.

Add in the nuts you want. I used cashews, pecans and almonds, you can also put in walnuts, filberts, macademia, etc.

Mix them all together.  Then, combine the melted coconut oil, the vanilla extract and the maple syrup and the oatmeal/coconut/nut mixture well, it will be wet and sticky.

Lay it on a heavy jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides).  The heavy ones don’t warp and heat evenly.  A baking pan will do, you want to spread it out thin, so that it is a single layer. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the top.

Cook at 275 degrees F for 40 – 70 minutes.  Using a spatula, move the granola from the corners to the center after about 20 minutes so new areas brown up (corners will brown up faster, so shift the mixture around.)

You want the coconut and nuts to turn light brown.  Keep a watch, it can turn fast!

Take it out and use a spatula to scrape it off the pan.  When cooled completely, put in a airtight container so it doesn’t lose it’s crunch.

Ways to customize:

• Dried fruit:  add it the last 15 min. of baking, otherwise you’ll end up with “hard bits”.  I have used dried diced apricots, dark sweet or tart cherries, cranberries, raisins, etc.  NOTE: I don’t put in dried fruit (glycemic load is too high), but I vary the nuts based on what I have.  If you’re trying to lose weight or have insulin resistance, I would STRONGLY encourage you to stay away from dried fruit. (see below)
• Dark chocolate can be added when it is cooled slightly, but be sure it is above 70% cocoa, otherwise it will have too  much sugar.
• Change the vanilla to almond extract for an almond inspired batch of granola.

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