Cooking With Kids:Basic Granola

As you can imagine we do not eat breakfast cereal here much. Even on sale it is expensive because it takes at least 2 boxes to feed everyone- even with that they are hungry again in an hour.

Homemade granola is fun to make and kids love it. Because you are making it at home you can control what goes in it, and how much. Best of all, because this is a kid friendly recipe they can help and choose some of the ingredients. Chef Kyrie gives this recipe 4 stars.

Age: Youngest chefs, with help

10 or over on their own

Difficulty: must be able to read and use oven safely

Granola

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla, maple or other flavoring 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup nuts -your choice
• 1/2 c seeds (like sunflower) or another 1/2 c of nuts
• 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 c dried fruit

1. Make sure the oven rack is in the center position and preheat the oven to 325 degrees

2. Combine the honey and butter in a small saucepan. Heat on low heat and stir until melted or microwave. Remove from the heat. Stir in flavoring.

3. Combine the oats, nuts, coconut, seeds, and salt in a large bowl. Stir with a large spoon mixing well.

4. Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture and stir until well combined.

5. Spread the granola evenly in a thin layer on a baking sheet

6. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes with a wooden spoon to prevent the granola from sticking or burning, about 20 minutes. Granola will crisp as it cools

7. Using oven mitts or pot holders, carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cooled, transfer the granola to a large mixing bowl and stir in the dried fruit. break up large pieces.

8. Transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

Try these combinations:

• maple flavoring, walnuts, dried cranberries, apples, and pears
• banana flavoring, macadamia nuts, dried bananas, papaya, mango
• vanilla, dried apricots, pistachios

There are hundreds of possibilities. Feel free to add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, or what ever you like! For a great snack add M & Ms to the cooled granola. (..but you didn’t hear it from me.)