Red & Green Granola

I've always struggled with what to eat for breakfast. Eggs and bacon are too heavy, cereal and milk gets soggy too fast, and pancakes and waffles take too long to make....

Enter - Granola! Eat it plain, it's crunchy! Eat it with yogurt, still crunchy! mmmmmm. Crunchy!

Start with oats, almonds, pistachios (green!), and unsweetened coconut.

I found unsweetened coconut at my local Asian grocery. The Safeway didn't have it, just the super sugary stuff. The Asian grocery had 5 different brands. I chose the prettiest one.

Next, add brown sugar and stir it all up.

In a small bowl, mix up the molasses, honey, oil, and salt. 

Toss it all together.....

Mixy, mixy, mixy. Put it on a silpat-lined sheet tray and toss it in the oven.

Bake until golden. Stir occasionally. As soon as it's out of the oven, mix in the cherries (red!). Then let it sit so it can set - and get crunchy!

Enter the bowl. Yummytown, here we come!

Red & Green Granola

Makes 8 cups

Adapted from Alton Brown

3 c. rolled oats

1 c. slivered almonds

2/3 c. pistachios, slightly smashed (use a bag and a mallet)

1 c. unsweetened coconut

1/4 c. + 2 tbsp light brown sugar (or dark, just omit the molasses)

1/4 c. + 2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp molasses

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/4 tsp salt

1 6 to 8 oz bag dried cherries

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, coconut, and sugar. In a smaller bowl, combine honey, molasses, oil, and salt. Pour the liquids into the oat mixture and stir until fully combined. Pour out the mixture into a silpat-lined sheet tray. Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours, stirring every 1/2 hour, until golden. Once the pan is out of the oven, immediately toss on the dried cherries and mix them in. Allow granola to rest on the pan for 20 minutes until crunchy. When cool, store in an airtight container.