Homemade Granola

I hear homemade granola is the new fondue (spread it around).

Tonight, I made my first batch.

"Sarah, aren't you down and out with the Mono right now?" you ask. Why yes, yes I am; and I am stir crazy! Don't worry, I didn't cough on this batch once. 100% safe to eat, and extremely delicious.

I went off of the Barefoot Contessa recipe here on the Food Network page (thanks to Kate for suggesting it), but I changed several things. We aren't a coconut house; so that was out. I used dried cranberries instead of cherries, and I added 1/4 C of brown sugar to really set it off. (I also added a bit more honey just to make sure it was all coated really well).

When making any recipe online, many of you probably know you MUST check the comments other people post about their adventures in making it. If you didn't know that, let me go ahead and give you a run down of the important things I learned before I ever turned on my oven.

1. Set your over at 325 degrees F, instead of 350!
2. It should take you 25 minutes to bake this. For the first 20 minutes, DON'T have the fruit in with the granola! Add the fruit when you have 5 minutes left on the clock!
3. You can add or subtract whatever you want to this recipe, and it will still probably turn out delicious.

I made it, and I love it. I immediately put it on a little cup of ice cream that Jayson brought home from the place he volunteers.

Here are a couple of pictures:





So is there anything I would change? I think if I could go back I would have like some honey and cinnamon on the cranberries as well, but all in all this was perfection!

Enjoy!

-s