Take the cilantro, leave the zamboni

Last night I tried another variation on the NYTimes granola recipe from last winter. This time, I added oil, since I figured lack of oil was what had made the previous batches less crispy than I would like. We just had some for a late lunch, and emilymorgan gave it two thumbs up and asked how it was made. Here you go!

Crispy granola

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine in a large bowl:
6 c rolled oats (the 5 minute kind, not 1 minute or instant)
2 1/2 to 3 cups mixed nuts and seeds (I used pecan halves, sliced almonds, pepitas and sesame seeds)
As much cinnamon as you can stand-- I used 1 to 1 1/2 tsp
1 c maple syrup

(Feel free to reduce the syrup amount if you want. I've noticed that eclectician and latvianchick make their granola far less sweet. That's great too, and I may try this with 1/2 the syrup some time, to see how it goes. For now I'm being ruled by my fanaticism about maple and cinnamon.)

Mix thoroughly, scraping the sides and bottom of bowl.

Drizzle canola oil over the mixture-- I probably used about 1/4 cup of oil-- and mix thoroughly.

Grease a cookie sheet with oil or vegetable oil spray, and spread the granola out evenly on it.

Bake until crunchy: stir after 10 minutes and 20 minutes, and then start checking and stirring every 5 minutes until the granola starts to look browned and somewhat crisp. (It will get more crisp as it cools.) Browning will happen first at edges and corners, so fold granola from the edges into the center, and then push lighter granola out to the edges.

I started this batch at 400 degrees for 8 minutes and turned the oven down to 350 after that, because I was cooking something else. It still took something like 35 to 40 minutes to get nice and crispy, and the darker you can get it without burning, the crisper it will be, so consider starting to check every 2 minutes once you see browning. This is a lot of granola for a single cookie sheet, so you could put it on two greased sheets instead for faster browning, but you will need to watch the granola more carefully and possibly switch racks at some point.

Cool the granola on the cookie sheets, and then put in an airtight container. Raisins and other dried fruits can be mixed into cooled granola. (I put freeze-dried strawberries in mine sometimes, even though they're expensive.)

I think this is granola for people who don't like granola. Okay, maybe not for everyone, but if you haven't liked storebought granolas, or granolas with coconut or raisins, try this! Swap in your own favorite nuts and seeds. If you don't like granola in milk, try it in yogurt or on sliced fruit or on ice cream.

I think apintrix has been saying for years that no commercial granola can compare to homemade, and now I see why.

PS: Creamtop maple yogurt is awesome. Combined with granola, it's even more so.