Erin's Cali Granola

Last year one of my favorite people in the whole wide world sent me an email and told me I had to make this super delicious homemade granola. I've been on a granola and yogurt kick for the past year, and love to top yogurt with granola, so I decided to give this one a shot.
The only thing standing between you and really, really simple and yummy granola is a few ingredients, a little time, and a couple of jelly roll pans. The only danger in making this is you'll never, ever, be satisfied with store bought again.

 

Erin's Cali ('cause she lives in Cali) Granola
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6 cups old fashioned oatmeal (not quick oats)
1 1/2 cup whole raw almonds
1 cup walnuts
1 cup pecans
½ cup sesame seeds
1 cup wheat germ
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
½ cup canola oil
1 ½ cups honey

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 

In an extra large bowl, stir together the oats, almonds, walnuts, pecans, sesame seeds, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon (if desired), coconut and sunflower seeds. In a large glass measuring cup, stir together the oil and honey. Heat in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Pour over the oat mixture, and stir to coat evenly.

Using two half sheet baking pans with sides, line each with heavy duty foil and spray the foil with Pam or use a Silpat liner if you have one. Spread out granola mixture, splitting evenly between the two pans, and smooth it out.

Bake for 20 minutes in the 325 degree oven. Pull the two trays out, stir thoroughly, and put the pan from the bottom rack onto the top rack, and the top pan on the bottom rack. After another 10 minutes, stir. If it is to desired brownness, take out of the oven. Otherwise cook for about 10 more minutes, watching it carefully to avoid over browning.

Take out of the oven, and continue to stir the granola as it cools. This will keep it from sticking to the foil, and from forming large clumps. Let it cool completely on the pans, and then transfer to large Ziploc bags or airtight containers to keep crisp.

Tips:

-The great thing about making your own granola is you choose the ingredients. If you are not a walnut lover, substitute pecans, or another nut. 

-Sesame seeds and sunflower seeds are found in more than one place in the grocery, if you hunt around a little, you will often find sesame seeds are considerably less expensive in the Asian section than in the spice section. Same goes for sunflower seeds. They are often sold in the bulk section for a fraction of the price in the nut/baking section of the grocery. 

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