Cherry Granola

A few years ago I spent a couple summers selling food stuff at the local farmers market. I had breads, granola, brownies, cookies and even big trays of huge cinnamon rolls. It was a lot of work, but it was also fun.

Our local market was held in the afternoon so I'd get up ridiculously early to make sure everything was baked fresh that day. I had a pretty decent system of what needed to be started first and what order they needed to go into the oven. The hardest part was not eating all the inventory myself because who can resist fresh baked bread? Not me.

My best seller week after week was this granola. I always made it with cherries in it when I put it out for sale, but for family I also made it with dried blueberries, craisins and almost any other dried berry you can think of. It tastes amazing all on it's own too without the fruit so you have lots of choices.

Cherry Granola

6 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups flaked sweetened coconut
2 cups pecans, chopped as fine as you'd like
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 300*F.

In a greased large roasting pan, combine the oats, coconut and pecans.

In a small saucepan, combine the oil, brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, cinnamon and vanilla. Heat gently over medium heat stirring constantly until smooth. Pour over the oat mixture and mix well.

Bake until browned, about 30-45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and add cherries. Stir to mix well. Cool on a large baking sheet. Store in an airtight container.


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