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Oh, granola, we have come a long way, you and I. My first attempts at granola weren’t great, mostly due to the recipe (I’m looking at you, Mark Bittman), and I thought, what is the point of wasting my time making this when the stuff at the store is better? I eventually settled on some Trader Joe’s granola as my favorite until I started making this granola and now it’s hard to go back to anything from a store. Before the recipe, here are some things I’ve learned about granola:

• Granola needs viscous sweeteners and oil to be delicious, and these need to be heated before they are mixed in with the rest of the oats and stuff. Otherwise dumb recipes might just tell you to mix in cold honey as if there won’t be huge honey clumps while the rest of the granola is unsweetened and naked. (Seriously, Bittman!)
• Granola is not really that healthy, per the above fact, but we can pretend it is. If you want healthy oat mixtures, try muesli. 
• Granola is also not that cheap to make, especially if you get your recipes from yuppie health food cookbooks who eschew anything that is refined or sulfured or not organic. 
• Around the holidays, you might have the idea to make delicious granola for all your friends, encased in adorable little mason jars. You will absolutely regret this when you realize that one batch of granola will only fill four half-pint jars, and you are up to your elbows in granola that you have to check every seven minutes because you only have two baking sheets. You will immediately set a limit to the number of people you count as friends, which is no higher than twelve.
• Per the above fact, if you ever receive granola as a gift, appreciate it, FOR REAL.
• But making granola for yourself isn’t that much of a chore, mostly because you get to eat it all. 
• And seriously, once you’ve gone the good route with granola it will be hard to go back.

Granola! (Adapted from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson)

• 4-5 cups oats
• 1 cup nuts of your choice, roughly chopped or pre-sliced
• 1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut
• dash of sea salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup honey

Set oven to 300. Mix everything except the oil and honey in your favorite mixing bowl. Heat the oil and honey in a small saucepan until it’s all hot but not boiling, then stir it in with the oat mixture. Spread on two rimmed baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Then stir, and bake for 5-8 more minutes. Use a timer! Keep checking every 5-8 minutes until it’s browned to your liking, but don’t burn it, cause you’ll be really sad.

**Recipe notes: the coconut is optional, and you could swap out coconut oil and use some other oil if you wish. You could probably use less honey. The measurements are just ideas: if you love nuts or seeds, add more! If you like dried fruit, add it at the end! The recipe also called for the zest of two oranges, but when I tried this with just one orange I hated the result, so only do that if you really want your grains to be tainted with citrus. Other granola modification ideas can be found here.