Cardamom Granola

I love Granola. Did I ever tell you that? Yes I do. I can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
But, I am not very fond of store bought granola. They are too sweet plus they are way too expensive.
I like to make them myself. That way, I can put whatever are my favorites and make it.
But I didn't make this granola for myself. I made it for my little one.
Yes, she is 3 1/2 and loves granola and her favorite nuts are cashews, almonds and golden raisins. I put these together and made a batch of granola for myself and my little one.

Ingredients:
Rolled Oats - 4 cups
Cashews - 1 cup
Sliced almonds - 1 cup
Golden Raisins - 1 cup
Toasted Golden Flax seeds - 1/2 cup (optional)
Sweetened Shredded Coconut - 1 cup (You could use unsweetened)
Brown Sugar - Packed 1/4 cup
Honey - 1/2 cup
Vegetable Oil - 1/4 cup
Cardamom Powder - 3/4 tsp (Or crush 5- 6 pods)
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 250 F. In a bowl, mix rolled oats, cashews, sliced almonds, shredded coconut, brown sugar, flax seeds, salt and cardamom powder. In a measuring cup, measure 1/4 cup of oil. Add enough honey to make it 3/4 cup. Whisk together and pour onto the dry ingredients. Stir with a spoon. Line two large baking sheets (I used 10 X 15 jelly roll pans) with parchment paper. You could prefer not to line them but in that case, spray the sheets with vegetable oil spray. Divide the mixture between the two baking sheets. Place in the oven and bake for an hour. Stir every 15 - 20 minutes and rotate the pan half way.

Depending on how big baking sheets you have used, it might take 10 - 15 more minutes longer for the entire mixture to get crunchy. When done, take out and mix in the raisins. Let it cool and transfer to an air tight container. This should stay fresh for 2 weeks. This granola is very crunchy and dry. If you like your granola not so dry, bake for about 45 minutes and test the texture and bake more if needed.

This can be eaten as snack or with milk as breakfast. Here is another version of granola.

Notes:
Use maple syrup in the place of honey to make it vegan cereal.

Happy Baking!!