My mom’s “best damn” granola

My mom makes the BEST granola ever and this is her recipe! She says you can swap out the nuts and dried fruit for whatever you like, but this is her favorite combo. This makes A LOT of granola, so perfect if you want to gift some to your friends.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of oats (not instant or steel cut)

• 2.5 - 3 cups of unsweetened coconut flakes

• 2 cups of walnuts; roughly chopped but in large pieces

• 1 cup of roasted slivered almonds

• 1 cup of raisins

• 1 cup of dried cranberries

• 1/2 cup of dried tart cherries

• 1/2 cup of brown sugar

• 1/2 cup of coconut oil

• 1/2 cup of almond butter

• 1/2 cup of maple syrup

• A generous pinch of kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 250F and prep two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set those aside until later.

In a large mixing bowl, add in your oats, coconut flakes, walnuts, almonds, raisins, cranberries and cherries.

Add in the brown sugar and toss everything together.

In a bowl that can go in the microwave, add the coconut oil and almond butter. Microwave for about 30 - 40 seconds or until the coconut oil melts down and the almond butter loosens up a bit.

Pour the coconut oil / almond butter mixture over your other bowl. Pour in the maple syrup and add in the salt and mix everything together.

Make sure all the granola bits are covered and there are no clumps of wet vs. dry ingredients.

Pour the contents of the large mixing bowl onto the two prepped baking sheets, spreading everything into one layer.

Bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, tossing the granola half way through.

Everything should be nice and toasty but not too browned.

Let cool completely on the trays and then transfer to an air tight container.