Homemade Granola, Revised

The thing I like most about cooking, is the more you do it, the better you get at it. Same for recipes. So true for so many things in life! Something about the relaxed vibe of Hawthorne, I almost always make a batch of granola when we are here. Each time I tweak things a bit, given what we have on hand. For this, I bumped up the cook time too. A few more minutes, so now it cooks a total of a half an hour total. We had a bag of pepitas that I wanted to use up, so put those in. They are no shell pumpkin seeds, and I love them. Also had a small bag of hemp seeds that got added to the mix. The teeny tiny seeds scattered about the batch.

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup hemp seeds

1/2 cup pepitas

1/2 cup pistachios

OK, here is the deal, you really can use whatever nuts/seeds and raisin equivalent you would like. The photo above, my last batch, included what I have in the ingredient list. I have also used walnuts and dates. The cool part is you really can make it your own.

Oven to 300 degrees with the rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl add the oil, syrup, vanilla and salt. Mix together. Then add in the oats. With a wooden spoon mix all together until the oats are thoroughly coated. I chopped half the pistachios and left the other half whole. Mix in all the seeds and the raisins. I left the raisins whole as they were jumbo variety. Many recipes say to put in the fruit after it comes out of the oven. I like that they plump up a bit and get caramelized. Your call here.

Spread out evenly on the parchment paper. Put in oven for 15 minutes. Take out and mix around and put in for another 15 minutes. Cooking time is 30 minutes total. It will all continue to cook once you take it out and let the entire lot cool. Break up and put into jars or baggies once cooled.