I love a homemade granola recipes. Especially when it’s healthy and naturally sweetened with maple syrup (or honey). This Coconut Almond Granola is made with oats, oil (you can use coconut oil, too), and your favorite nuts and fruit. Customize it the way you like–make it your own, and add your favorite dried fruit.

Coconut Almond Granola

For our family, we never tire of dried fruit like cranberries, golden raisins, cherries, or blueberries. You can even cut up apricots for this granola recipe, into small chunks. The combination of fruit and nuts is endless, as this is a basic recipe, so perfect for gift-giving this time of year.

Why I love this recipe

M ry friend Steph shared this recipe with me years ago (like 10 years ago), and it’s our go-to snack! Oh, so good on ice cream, too! I love how food and recipes can tie us to friendships!

• It’s been a family favorite for years.
• Makes the best “homemade gift” during the holidays.
• So delicious with milk, on yogurt, or on ice cream.

Gather these ingredients:

• Maple syrup
• Brown sugar
• Vegetable oil (or coconut oil)
• Vanilla
• Sea salt
• Old-fashioned rolled oats
• Coconut
• Whole almonds, chopped
• Whole walnuts, chopped
• Dried fruit, such as cranberries, golden raisins, blueberries, or cherries

Is homemade granola good for you?

Granola is listed as a health food, but it’s often high in calories. We just eat in moderation, and enjoy the excellent source of fiber, iron, heart-healthy fats, and protein.

How do you make Coconut Almond Granola?

Steph also inspired me to start making my own granola, and once I got into the routine, it not only provided a great snack (and breakfast) for the family, but it saved us a bunch of money! Store-bought granola is too often way overpriced. And store-bought is often too sweet.

1. Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line 2 rimmed backing sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl, except the dried fruit (will add in later).
3. Whisk the first 5 ingredients together. Pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
4. Transfer the mixture to the baking sheets, baking on 2 oven levels, stirring every 15-20 minutes. After 40 minutes, swap pans on the oven racks.
5. Bake for 60-80 minutes until granola is the consistency that you like.
6. Remove granola from the oven and cool on racks for an hour before stirring in the dried fruit.

Tips and substitutions:

• Don’t use “quick oats,” but instead use the “old-fashioned rolled oats.”
• Hand-chop the almonds and walnuts, for larger chunks.
• If your cranberries and golden raisins are old (dry), soften them up in hot water.
• If you feel the recipe needs more liquid, you can double the oil/maple syrup mixture.
• Cook the granola at 250 for over an hour. You can cook it (stirring every 20 minutes) to whatever texture you like for your own household.

How do you store granola?

Using an airtight container, you can store for up to 2 weeks (if it lasts that long!)

It’s a simple little care package idea of a holiday gift, or use as a hostess gift full of homemade love! :)

More homemade gifts you may want to try while you are here:

• Hot Russian Tea Mix
• Holiday Hot Buttered Rum Mix
• Homemade Vanilla Extract
• Apple Carrot Dog Biscuits
• Homemade Kahlua
• Best Homemade Chocolate Sauce

Print

Coconut Almond Granola

Extra-crunchy homemade Coconut Almond Granola is a recipe made with almonds, dried cherries, and oats– naturally sweetened, and butter-free.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 24

Calories 417kcal

Author Sandy Coughlin

Ingredients

• ½ cup maple syrup
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 2-3 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups coconut
• 3 cups whole almonds chopped
• 3 cups whole walnuts chopped
• 2-3 cups dried fruit such as cranberries, golden raisins, or cherries

Instructions

• Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line 2 rimmed backing sheets with parchment paper.
• Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl, except the dried fruit (will add in later).
• Whisk the first 5 ingredients together. Pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
• Transfer the mixture to the baking sheets, baking on 2 oven levels, stirring every 15-20 minutes. After 40 minutes, swap pans on the oven racks.
• Bake for 60-80 minutes until granola is the consistency that you like.
• Remove granola from the oven and cool on racks for an hour before stirring in the dried fruit.
• Using an airtight container, you can store for up to 2 weeks (if it lasts that long!)

Notes

Reposted from Dec. 2021.

Nutrition

Calories: 417kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.05g | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 349mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 3IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 92mg | Iron: 2mg

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This outdoor sectional sofa, a Sunset Magazine Inspired DIY Outdoor Sectional is made of cedar boards, with comfortable thick cushions. Also, if you have a skinny deck, you can make these DIY Skinny Deck Gardening Beds! This is reposted from May 2017.

Sunset Magazine Inspired DIY Outdoor Sectional

This sectional sofa offfers warmth and texture for an outdoor space, if you’re looking for an L shaped couch. Make it yourself for about $350 in two pieces. Grab the links to the cushions below! Affordable and excellent quality!

Inspired DIY Outdoor Sectional

Friends! My husband is guest-posting today! I was so impressed when he took my vision of what I wanted in an outdoor area here in central Oregon, did some research, and came up with a Sunset Magazine Inspired sectional just for me!
(more…)

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Friends, do you have leftover Easter eggs? If not, try my Perfect Soft Boiled Egg Recipe for this salad today! You can also try my Layered Apple Spinach Salad! Serve in this Anchor Hocking affordable glass trifle bowl [affiliate link to buy].

Layered Shrimp Cobb Salad Recipe

Cook, cool, peel and slice the eggs; a beautiful addition to this Layered Shrimp Cobb Salad Recipe!

For future potlucking, this is delicious to bring to a party. For today–in this quarantine world–it’s a fresh healthy dinner!

Also, our house is slowly coming together. It was a mad rush a few months ago, to get into it (so we could move out of our old one). Now the projects are coming along, as we just finished staining our decks.

I’ll be doing a posts on different parts of the house soon! Today … I’m giving the details of our entry way accent wall! (more…)

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Hey friends, feast on this Roasted Vegetable Goat Cheese Raisin Side Dish that we enjoyed with my Crusted Pepper Prime Rib Recipe a few weeks ago.

It’s a great salad or side dish! And I love that you can roast your veggies ahead of time.

But first … if you walked into my home right now, I can guarantee it would not be photo-worthy for any magazine or high-end blog. But for my blog, it’s fine. Because it’s real life and yes, we have an ongoing “fix it” list. If you follow me on Instagram @ReluctantEntertainer , I occasionally share little projects we’re working on. [Or, you an follow my moutain home posts.] (more…)

The post Roasted Vegetable Goat Cheese Raisin Side Dish appeared first on Reluctant Entertainer.

Friends, just in time for 2019 and camping in the great outdoors here in Bend, Oregon, we’ll be taking our newly converted sprinter van on the road soon. As soon as it warms up, we can’t wait to drive 20 minutes away to our favorite camping spot to enjoy a night or two. (more…)

The post VW Westfalia to Mercedes Sprinter Van Conversion appeared first on Reluctant Entertainer.

This Stove-top Yuletide Potpourri Recipe is one of my favorite “homemade” things for the holidays. You know, “favorite things” is a popular saying. Well, add in a delicious smell of “holiday,” and your home smells so cozy and lovely!

What is potpourri?

What I love about this potpourri recipe is that it’s super easy to make. For us in our mountain home, we just grab a few outdoor elements. (more…)

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Here we are … the beginning of December, with frozen mornings and shorter days to enjoy the sunshine. We get to enjoy sipping on hot chocolate and walking through the crunchy snow. Or, having a couple people over to enjoy this Cozy Minimalist Charcuterie Board!

Cozy Minimalist Home

A cozy existence we have in our little mountain home, and it reminds me of my friend Myquillyn Smith’s (also known as “The Nester” who blogs at Nesting Place) new book, Cozy Minimalist Home (More Style, Less Stuff), which I’ve been very much enjoying.

I think we all want to have a a beautiful, intentional home, and this book shows you how it can be done!

Myquillyn’s and my life parallel each other in a small way, having both downsized and worked on a fixer upper home. A much smaller home than we were used to, after 4 yard sales and about 50 trips to Good Will! (more…)

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Friends, are you looking for the perfect hostess gift or stocking stuffer for your dog, or a thoughtful gift to for a friend? Then you’ll love my 4 Homemade Holiday Gifts Collection!

Homemade gifts to give

There’s something extra special about homemade gifts. I love them! And who doesn’t love to receive homemade gifts? Last year I made my White Chocolate Peppermint Bark recipe for a few friends. So good!

Everyone always loves the ones I make them (or at least they pretend they do – wink-wink). Well, let’s be honest, the “dogs” do! :) (more…)

The post 4 Homemade Holiday Gifts Collection (VIDEO) appeared first on Reluctant Entertainer.

What happens in a Cozy Outdoor Living Space? This place is where we sit and get to know new people, and catch up with old friends.

Or, new friends. (And that’s Alder the Whoodle, if you’re wanting to know who the cute dog is!)

“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat”. – Laura Ingalls

Cozy Outdoor Living Space

Does this space always look this perfect? Well … no. We tidied it up a bit to take these photos (of course).

I love fall for its beauty and colors, but then again, it’s imperfections. (more…)

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Friends, looking for a way to preserve your kids’ memories or keepsakes?

Since about 2000, I have saved my kid’s “memories” in binders, filled with everything from school pictures, certificates, special, art, poetry, awards, report cards, our family Christmas card and letter … the list goes on and on.

How to Make Memory Binders

This post gives you a list of easy supplies to buy to make your own books. It’s also a great idea for recipes or anything you want to preserve.

When you’re not crazy about scrapbooking, then this is for you!

It’s something tangible, with easy access for both us and for our kids’ enjoyment. (I thumbed through my oldest son’s book one year ago as we sent him off to college, and found a very sentimental letter. I try to fill the books with anything memorable that will be fun for the kids to look at as they get older.)

That’s when I posted several years back about making easy, very inexpensive Memory Binders for your kids.

-Heidi wrote me last week and sent me a picture of her books, and I love how she organized them by her kids’ ages

-My books are organized by my kids’ school years.

-Either way, I’m linking to my original post, but here are the simple supplies that you will need.

Supplies needed to create a Memory Binder

• 2″ white binders from Costco (4 in a pack)
• Scrapbook paper (or plain colored paper)
• 1 box sheet protectors

Starting with Pre-K, I have saved art, special memories, class pictures, sports awards, first book report, every report card, articles their dad has written – you name it, and have filed these papers into these books.

Here are more ideas of what goes in the binder!

ENJOY getting organized!

This is a repost from Sept. 2011

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