Tuesday, April 1, 2014

20-Minute Granola

I love granola and have my favorite granola recipe posted here. That recipe is a little more time-consuming and I wanted something I could whip up quickly in its place.  That's why I was excited to come up with another great-tasting granola recipe, but one that is done in almost half the time and using ingredients you are sure to have in your pantry. This isn't the healthiest granola, but it sure tastes good! It's sweet and crunchy and hard to stop eating, so you may want to double the recipe right off the bat!


Ingredients:

3 1/2 c. rolled oats
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt

Oven Temp: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 20 minutes

In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients, stirring well. Add the oats to this mixture, stirring until all the oats have a light coating.  Place on a cookie sheet or 9x13" pan and bake. After 10 minutes, be sure to stir the granola.  Keep an eye on it at this point--I stirred it two more times, in 5-minute increments. Depending on how your oven bakes, this would be easy to accidentally burn if you aren't careful. Once the granola is a nice golden brown, remove it from the oven. Stir it again so that the granola doesn't stick to the pan.  The granola will get crunchier as it cools.  Serve dry or with milk, or use it to top a bowl of yogurt (along with fresh berries) like we did!  Enjoy!