Ahhh....the raging Caribou River after a rain...Ahhh....the favorite granola of everyone in our family. My daughter likes it better than Captain Crunch...however, it took about 20 years to convince her...
Ahhh....after routinely making it twice a month in my electric oven, I finally got to try making it outside!! Yes, the woodburning oven can even make granola...
Both the hearth and the arch registered about 4oo degrees the morning after a pizza party, so I swept out the ashes and started baking things I would not normally attempt outside! I had already promised Sonja, my granola addict, another batch, so....let's try it!
Caribou Crunch
8 cups old fashioned oatmeal
2 cups sliced almonds
(can also add sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, wheat germ, pecans or whatever you want!!)
2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup pure maple syrup or honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon good vanilla
Mix almonds with oatmeal and cinnamon. Heat brown sugar, oil and maple syrup in small saucepan until sugar is dissolved and mixture is thin. This takes about 5 minutes. Add the salt and the vanilla. Pour over oatmeal mixture and stir to coat. Divide in two sheet pans. Put in 350 degree conventional oven (or flameless brick oven) and bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until it is dry and slightly browned. It can burn quickly toward the end! After removing from the oven, stir again so it doesn't stick to the pan, and let cool before packaging.
I usually keep a batch of this in the freezer so it is always fresh tasting!
It is delicious topped with toasted coconut...or dried cherries...or fresh blueberries....or just about anything. We grabbed the picnic blanket and coffee, and wandered down to the Caribou River with our fresh granola.....another ahhh moment...
