Maple Granola, A Love Story

After much delay, I bring you my favorite granola recipe. While I haven't made all that much good granola in my day, I have made A LOT of bad granola. I don't know if it's just one of those things that I have trouble with, or maybe granola is hard for everyone. Thoughts?

Anyway, this recipe is a winner. I first made it to include in a batch of banana granola pancakes (heavenly, by the way). Since then, this has been my go-to granola recipe. It's easy and delicious and even gets a little bit clumpy like store bought granola.

My advice: don't skimp on the salt. My favorite part about this recipe is that the sweet is perfectly balanced by the salt. As all good granola recipes are, this one is pretty adaptable. I start with this recipe as the base. I usually leave out the oat bran (I don't hate on oat bran, I just don't always have it on hand). Then, I use any combination of walnuts, almonds and/or pepitas. I haven't tried it with dried fruit but I image it would be delicious with some craisins.

A mason jar filled with granola and topped with a festive bow might make a great holiday gift, don't you think?

Photo by Howard Puckett and styling by Fonda Shaia via My Recipes