Brown Sugar & Winter Spice Granola

 

I have a great breakfast idea for you this weekend!  This is probably my favorite granola I've made thus far.  Well, I love every granola recipe I've shared with you.  The difference with this recipe is the method -- it results in big granola clusters -- my fav!

 

When you read the directions, you might be shocked by the amount of cooking time (75 minutes + an additional 30 minutes!).  It works though with the low cooking temp -- low and slow! 

 

Brown Sugar and Winter Spice Granola
Source:  Recipe adapted from "The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee" by James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman and Tara Duggan (Ten Speed Press)
Yields:  approximately 10 cups

Ingredients
1½ cups lightly packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup water
4 cups old-fashioned oats
1½ cups pecans, coarsely chopped
1½ cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon coarse sea salt
⅓ cup canola oil
2½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 250°. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar with the water and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the syrup cool slightly.

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the pecans, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Add the canola oil and vanilla to the brown sugar syrup and stir until thoroughly combined. Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and mix well with a rubber spatula or your hands until thoroughly combined.

Coat a rimmed 13-by-18-inch baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the oat mixture to the baking sheet and pat it down in an even layer; it will be thick but shouldn’t rise above the rim of the baking sheet.

Bake the granola for 75 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a large spatula to flip the granola, keeping it in large chunks. Return the granola to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes longer or until completely dry and crunchy. Remove from the oven and let cool before breaking into clusters and serving.