Apple Cinnamon Granola

Did I tell you, or did I tell you? I said what I meant and I meant what I said, and elephant is faithful 100 percent... No marshmallows :- ) YAY!

Truth be told I was a little tired of all of the sweets, so I wanted something a bit healthier. A few weeks ago I made my Grandpa's granola recipe, it was fabulous! However, that is his recipe to give out, not mine. I recently ran out of the morning goodness and I desperately wanted more granola. I figured that since I really like Apple Cinnamon oatmeal, I would like Apple Cinnamon Granola.

Turns out I was right. I love granola in the morning over yogurt, especially if I sprinkle fresh blueberries over top *heaven*. How about you? How do you like your granola? Do you even like granola? How about granola bars? So anyways, I took what I knew from my grandpa's recipe and searched a few different ones online debating over what I liked and didn't like from all of them and this is what I came up with.

You can eat this plain as a snack, over yogurt, over frozen yogurt or with milk, it's all fabulous!

Apple Cinnamon Granola:

3 C.     Oats
1/3 C.  Chopped Pecans
2 tsp    Cinnamon
1/4 tsp  Cardamom
3 Tbs    Butter
1/3 C.   Applesauce
1/4 C.  Honey
2 Tbs   Brown Sugar
1/2 C.  Coconut
1/2 C.  Chopped Dried Apples

Preheat oven to 275 and line a cookie sheet with tin foil or silpat (if you have one)

Combine oats, pecans, coconut, cinnamon and cardamom into one bowl. Stir together so the spices get over everything.

In a second bowl combine and whisk together melted butter, applesauce, honey and brown sugar. Once those are combined add to oat mixture and coat evenly.

Spread onto cookie sheet in an even layer. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the granola is golden. Allow granola to rest and cool for about 15 minutes. Crumble granola and add dried apples.Store in an air tight container.

*As it turns out, Bailey (RJ's dog) like granola too. I accidentally left my container on the counter and left for work... Only to return to any empty granola container and busted Tupperware...* I'm not sure if I was more made that she ate my Tupperware or granola?

Oh and just so you know, Montey(our dog) who was trained with me, doesn't jump on counters for food!