Honey Vanilla Granola

My friend Leah is a creative cook with a delicious granola recipe! I've made it several times and I love having it on hand for snacking and adding to yogurt parfaits. I'm going to share with you the recipe as I generally make it, but as with most granola recipes it's extremely versatile. Use your imagination!

These are all the ingredients I used in my last batch.

Honey Vanilla Granola

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp maple extract
2 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
4 cups whole oats
3/4 cup additional add-ins (shredded coconut, wheat germ, flax seed, sunflower seeds)

Preheat oven to 325°. In small saucepan melt the butter and honey together. Stir in cinnamon, vanilla, maple extract and salt until thoroughly mixed. I like to bring the mixture to a boil for one minute to be sure it is thoroughly mixed, and to help it harden as it bakes. In separate bowl, stir together oats and any add-ins. Pour butter mixture over oats and mix well. Spread coated oats in a thin even layer on a greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Bake for 9-10 minutes, remove from oven and stir thoroughly. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes. The granola needs to be lightly golden. It will darken and harden as it cools. You may have to adjust baking times and temperatures -- if the granola is brown, it will have a burnt taste. (I usually bake mine for about 8 minutes each time because I don't like it to be too crunchy.)

The finished product! Scrumptious.