Cinnamon Vanilla Granola

Crikey Mikey. I just noticed the recipe reads "1 cup Oatmeal". I don't know how I didn't catch it before, but that is not right - the (actual) recipe takes 4 cups, aka 1 quart. I've fixed it now.

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,

Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"

Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston

Cinnamon Vanilla Granola

1 qt (4 cups) Oatmeal, either rolled oats or old fashioned oatmeal

2 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

1/2 cup Coconut Palm Sugar

2 Tbsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix Oatmeal, Cinnamon, and Salt until the oats are uniformly cinnamonified (new word for the dictionary!).

In a small pot, gently melt Coconut Oil.

When Coconut Oil is melted, stir or whisk in Coconut Palm Sugar.

Stir or whisk in Vanilla.

Pour Coconut Oil mixture over Oat mixture.

Carefully, because the oil might be too hot & burn your fingers, mix all the ingredients together until the oats are uniformly coated with the oil mixture.

Spread evenly in a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes and stir. Continue to bake until the granola is very light golden brown, it takes 30 minutes in my oven but it could take a little more or a little less time; it's a little hard to see with all that cinnamon, but you can notice the oats changing colour. If you prefer a your granola crunchier or a toasty flavour you can bake just it little longer, but watch carefully and do not allow it to brown or it will taste burnt.

Enjoy with milk or granola, as a topping for ice cream or fruit, as an out of hand snack, in baking recipes, any way you like!

The kids in this household don't go in much for ivy, though they do enjoy their oats and they love this granola; they start bleating for more very quickly when the jar runs out. Not only do I have to keep my grandkids in good supply, but I get requests to keep my grown kids supplied too. They all helped taste test batches until we came up with this exact recipe for the taste and texture they like best; I do not substitute or change anything, though you certainly could. I do not soak my oats for this recipe; unfortunately I don't know how it could be pulled off without a dehydrator. Even so, it is so much healthier than store-bought granola and cereal, and very frugal too.