Almond Coconut Granola

Making homemade granola is one of the easiest ways to experiment with flavors and ingredients. I love making homemade granola because I have complete control of what goes in and how much of it goes in. I find many store-bought granola's have too much sugar or an additional ingredient I could do without. I also typically do not like a whole lot of nuts and fruits. I prefer just enough so that each bite has more oats than everything else. But that is probably just me :)

I particularly love this recipe because of the coconut. I could eat toasted coconut by the palmfull. I was never too into coconut until I started working at the bakery. I always loved the scent but eating it was never a preference of mine. At the bakery I was exposed to the snowball cupcake (coconut cake and a coconut buttercream and garnished with shredded coconut), the coconut macaroon and the 7-layer bar. From then on, coconut was not only my favorite scent but a favorite in desserts as well.

I am thinking about trying to come up with a gingerbread granola for the holidays....we'll see if I can pull it off!

Almond Coconut Granola
Dame Good

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats
1/8 cup flax seeds
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons apple juice
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flax seeds, and salt. Mix well. In a small bowl combine the apple juice, maple syrup, vanilla and honey. Mix well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until the mixture is fully combined and moist. Spread the mixture on the greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and stir, breaking the large chunks into smaller pieces. Sprinkle the coconut and almonds on top. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until crisp. Remove from oven and allow to cool. While still warm, stir to break up any remaining chunks. When completely cool, store the granola in an airtight container.