Weekly Recipe: Daily Granola

I found this recipe at http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/02/consider-it.html. When I was younger, my grandfather used to make wonderful homemade granola and I've always wanted to make my own. While this wasn't as good as my grandpa's, it seems like a pretty good starting point. I like the ingredients, but the end result was a little too chewy and sweet for my taste. Next time I'll cut down on some of the sweeteners and let it bake a little longer (I did about 40 minutes this time).

Daily Granola (Modified from Orangette.com who modified it from Nigella's Feast

Dry ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raw almonds
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
1 cup dried coconut
¾ cup sesame seeds
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:
¾ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
¼ cup honey
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300°F. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones, and stir well.

Spread the mixture evenly on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until evenly golden brown. Set a timer to go off every ten minutes while the granola bakes, so you can rotate the pans and give the granola a good stir. Remove the pans from the oven, stir well – this will keep it from cooling into a hard, solid sheet – and set aside to cool. The finished granola may still feel slightly soft when it comes out of the oven, but it will crisp as it cools.

Scoop cooled granola into to a large zipper-lock plastic bag or other airtight container. Store in the refrigerator indefinitely.