Meredith’s Coconut Oil Granola

I have a new favorite granola recipe. In fact, I’d go so far to say that this is the best granola I’ve ever made.

Coconut Oil Granola with Nuts & Fruit! It’s so good and so easy to make that you’ll never buy store bought granola again.

This recipe comes from my friend Meredith who makes beautiful pottery. She did a wonderful post on her Pottery Blog about having the right bowl for the job. Since I am a known mixing bowl hoarder, I was interested right away in both the bowls she used and also her granola recipe.

The thing that sets this recipe apart from my usual way of making granola is that it uses Coconut Oil.

If you’re not on the coconut oil bandwagon yet, do a quick google search and you’ll see its many health benefits. It also tastes great! I’ve never been a huge coconut fan but coconut oil has a very mild coconut taste so it’s not at all overwhelming when used for baking or in this case, for awesome granola.

Here’s what you need:

Oats, Nuts (Pecans, Walnuts, Almonds & Pumpkin Seeds), Dried Fruit (Golden Raisins, Dried Cranberries, Dried Cherries, & Dried Apricots), Coconut Flakes, Coconut Oil, Honey, Maple Syrup, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg.

Meredith also puts a bit of molasses in her granola but I was out.

Click here for a Coconut Oil Granola Shopping List

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

I have this beautiful honey pot from Meredith’s kiln at Whynot Pottery, but no mixing bowls (yet)…

so I had to pick one of my own favorite bowls for the job.

Grab your favorite bowl and add 4 cups of good, old fashioned oats.

Granola is all about variety and adding the things that you personally like. You’ll want about 2 more cups of extras like nuts and seeds.

I have ¾ cup of walnuts, ¾ cup of pecan halves, ¼ cup almonds, and ¼ cup pepitas or pumpkin seeds. Sunflower seeds were in the original recipe and would also be a great idea.

Add your nuts to the oats. I also added ½ cup of unsweetened coconut flakes. Stir to mix up the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, combine ¼ cup coconut oil, ¼ cup honey, and ¼ cup maple syrup.

Add 1 Tablespoon vanilla,

1 teaspoon cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg.

Put the bowl in the microwave for 45-60 seconds to melt the coconut oil then stir to combine all of  the wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to combine.

Spread the granola on a large sheet pan in a single layer.

Bake at 250 degrees for 15 minutes then take it out of the oven and give it a good stir. I find a big spatula to be the best tool for the job.

Return the granola to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Stir, return to the oven…15 minutes more.

So that’s a total of 45 minutes with stirring 3 times at 15 minute intervals.

After 45 minutes, the granola should be golden brown, fragrant, and toasty.

Add 1 to 1½ cups of dried fruit. I’m using ½ cup golden raisins, ½ cup dried cranberries, ¼ cup dried cherries, and ¼ chopped dried apricots.

Once again, feel free to use the fruit that you like or whatever you have on hand. Granola can be different every time you make it.

Add the chopped fruit to the granola, give it a stir, and return it to the oven for just 5 minutes more. This helps keep the fruit from being super sticky.

Once your finished granola comes out of the oven, allow it to cool completely then store it in a jar or other airtight container.

Or, burn your fingers eating it directly off the hot pan because it smells so good.

I like my granola (in large quantities) over vanilla yogurt and fresh berries.

I love recipes from friends. Especially friends with gorgeous pottery! Off to look at mixing bowls…

Here’s the recipe – adapted from Meredith Heywood

Coconut Oil Granola