Granola Girl

There is nothing that I love more than peanut butter (well, there are a few things) so when I saw Matt's peanut butter granola on his blog, I just had to make it. As with most recipes, I didn't quite follow it. I improvised and changed things up quite a bit, and made it into more of a snack rather than a cereal. Here's what I did, and if I might say so, it's amazing. My husband agrees. I thought it would be a perfect car snack for an autumn leaf-finding excursion this weekend.

I don't believe I've ever posted a recipe before, so here's my first. Maybe I'll have to make it a semi-regular thing.

Peanut Butter Granola

2/3 c peanut butter (half creamy, half crunchy)
2/3 c honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
4 c old-fashioned oats
1 c roasted unsalted peanuts
2 c natural almonds
1 small bag craisins (will probably go with the bigger bag next time)
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon in a saucepan and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Put the oats, peanuts, and 1 cup almonds in a large bowl and pour the peanut butter mixture over the top. Stir till everything is coated. Spread mixture onto a 15" x 10" x 1" baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Stir, and turn the oven up to 375 and bake for another 10 minutes. Stir. Bake for another 5 minutes (or 10 depending on how crunchy you like). Remove from the oven and let it sit in the pan for about an hour to cool. Pour into a big bowl and add the other cup of almonds, craisins, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Store in airtight container, and not that this is scientific, but it fills a 1-gallon ziploc bag. YUM.

PS: It gets crispier/crunchier as it dries, so don't bake the hell out of it thinking that's exactly how it'll be when it's dry.

Edited to add: As I'm sitting here snacking on this deliciousness, I think it's the perfect crispness, but if you are going for a crunchier granola that will hold up well to milk or yogurt, you'll probably want to bake it another 5-10 minutes.