Mmm, Granola

When we were living together, my roommate would make granola at least once a month. At first I didn't care for it too much (it wasn't nearly as tasty as the uber-processed chocolate peanut butter Chewy bars that I was used to), but over time, it grew on me. Since I get hungry every three or so hours, it was a great snack to take along when I had huge blocks of class, or when I woke up late and couldn't eat breakfast. I've been dreaming about it for awhile now, so when a friend passed on this super tasty granola recipe I decided to give it a try.

Never having made granola before, I must say that this turned out to be really friggin' delicious. Perhaps even better than my roommate's version. Since it calls for molasses, my kitchen ended up smelling more like my mom's ginger bread men than granola, which was a pleasant surprise. I made a few changes. I went against the author's advice and made a half-batch, being that I am only one person and it was the first time I was making the recipe. I also don't have three baking sheets. Or even three shelves in my oven. Didn't add the flax seeds, but neither did my friend (or the author of the recipe, for that matter). I decided to double the vanilla, a habit I've inherited from my mother, no doubt. And I threw in some sunflower nuts that I found at my grocery store for super cheap.

Now, I'm a firm believer that most anything that comes out of the oven tastes best when eaten right away (allotting some time for cooling to a reasonable temperature, of course). The recipe cautions to leave it alone until it's fully cooled. Pshaw, I say. The best part of making this by myself was that there was no one to chastise me for picking around the edges of the granola while it was still warm. Living alone for the win! (I did, of course, leave most of it alone to set. Slightly burnt and crispy edges, however, are always fair game.)

The recipe mentions substituting maple syrup for half of the molasses, which I'll definitely have to try. I'm looking forward to making this again with slightly different ingredients to see how it turns out!