Homemade strawberry granola

My kids cannot get enough strawberries right now. I'm buying them by the flat...no joke! Inevitably, after a few weeks of strawberry season, the kids slow down and I'm left with copious amounts of berries in my fridge, quickly getting squishy! Aside from making freezer jam (of which I've already made two batches) over-ripe berries are good for baking. This past weekend our camping plans fell through (due to huge amounts of snow still covering the cabins at Huntington Lake) and we had a lazy Saturday with nothing planned. Randy requested I make some granola and offered to help me experiment with a recipe (that would, of course, include strawberries) and the photos. Here's what we came up with...enjoy!


8 cups rolled oats, 1 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup flaked coconut


Mix all your dry ingredients in a bowl.


1/2 cup oil, 1/4 cup honey, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 TBSP vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt


In large saucepan, combine oil, honey, brown sugar and salt. On medium heat, stir until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes).


1 cup rinsed and cut strawberries.


Purée.

Once sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and mix in vanilla and strawberry purée.


Pour warm sugar mixture over oat mixture.


Stir until oats are well coated. At this point Randy couldn't help but take a pre-taste. He immediately said, "Tastes like camping." What?!!! "Well, we always bring those instant oatmeal packets when we camp and strawberries and cream is my favorite flavor. Yep, tastes like camping!" So that's a good thing!

Spread mixture evenly on 2 cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring and rotating sheets every 7-8 minutes until granola is golden brown (even the reddish strawberry granola will lose its pink and turn light brown).


Have a pastry sheet ready on your countertop (parchment paper or a silpat will also work) to slide the granola onto when you take it out of the oven. I learned the hard way, if you leave the granola to cool on the cookie sheets, it will stick and leave you frustrated at the loss of inedible granola left on the pan as well as the extra scrubbing needed for cleaning the pans.


Cool completely before transferring to an airtight container...or a bowl, or quite frankly, straight into your mouth! Keeps for 3 weeks in your pantry, if you don't eat it all first!


Randy enjoyed his granola plain. I plopped a few fresh blueberries and strawberries atop mine. Not that there's a best way to enjoy homemade granola. Well, with a spoon is preferable!

Note: The granola recipe I usually use is found in The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country's Rather Sweet Bakery and Café by Rebecca Rather.