Melissa's Homemade Granola with Dried Cherries

My wonderful coworker Melissa made this delicious homemade granola for me postpartum to enjoy with some Greek yogurt.  She brought over the granola and yogurt along with some exceptional scones to enjoy the next day for breakfast.  I became obsessed with the granola and begged her to share the recipe.  I've been eating granola and yogurt for breakfast nearly every day for the past three weeks now.  Never gets old.  This recipe is so easy and smells so yummy baking in the oven.  You can definitely experiment with different nuts and dried fruit/raisins too.  I have used dried cherries and dried cranberries so far.  Also, feel free to also up the cinnamon; I love cinnamon so I use a little more than recommended and I also add a pinch of nutmeg.   The first time I did not have coconut so don't worry if you skip it.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 cups of old fashioned oats
1 cup of almonds (sliced or whole depending on your preference)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup of coconut
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of oil
1/2 cup of dried cherries (I used 2, 5oz packages)

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Combine first 5 ingredients
  3. Heat oil and honey in a small saucepan
  4. Pour oil/honey over the dry mix and stir
  5.  Spread granola over a large baking pan sprayed with some Pam
  6. Bake for 20 minutes
  7. Let cool for at least 1 hr 
  8. Break up and finally add your fruit.  Enjoy and store in an air tight container! 

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