granola: take 1

One of my favorite things to do during the fall is make granola. I'm not sure why I only really do it in the fall but the smell of oats and cinnamon oozing from my kitchen probably has something to do with it. So it has become somewhat of a tradition for me to make yummy cranberry granola at the first sign of Autumn. (since we live in Texas...there really is NO chance of cool weather and crunchy leaves anywhere in the near future but that is beside the point)

Granola is really easy to make so it's only natural that I would mess it up. I never use the same recipe...and I sometimes change the recipes I do use so the first few batches of the season usually don't turn out the best. Last night, I started rifling through granola recipes but didnt see anything that really said "this is the ONE" so I just threw some things together. The result was edible but definitely not a winning combination. I won't give you the exact measurements, for obvious reasons, but I used honey and brown sugar as sweeteners, rolled oats, a little wheat germ, just a splash of water, some pecans, sliced almonds, cinnamon, and oil. Oh, and I added dried cranberries and dates once it cooled down a bit.

My first mistake was the oil. I used peanut oil which, by the way, I never cook with, but had some in the pantry leftover from when my husband tried to fry something. Brandon often gets in weird moods and decides to fry whatever he can find...anything from the typical fried dishes like fish and onion rings, to green vegetables that should NOT be fried...but thats another blog. Anyway, so I thought I would use peanut oil, I mean what difference does it make really? Well, the smell killed my cinnamon buzz for starters, and my granola tastes a little like scorched peanut butter. I will definitely stick to canola or veggie oil from now on.

My second mistake was temperature and baking time. I cooked at 350 for 25 min, stirring every 10 min. 350 was a little too hot...I think next time I will cook in a cooler oven for a little longer. The granola came out a little too brown and like I said, tasted a bit scorched.

So I am going to keep experimenting and will update on my adventures in granola making!