Banana Nut Granola

I had this craving for banana granola the other day and wasn't even sure if such a thing existed!  Well it does now!  Came out real tasty, not super sweet (we don't dig super sweet granola).  So much cheaper to make your own than to buy it, even when you can get it in the bulk bins, it's not this cheap.  I got all the oats, nuts, seeds and pumpkin chips out of the bulk bins at my local store and spent about $5 for the whole thing - it filled 3.5 quart-sized Mason jars.  Bueno!

The thing I like about making your own granola is that you can put whatever you want in it, really.  Whatever nuts you like.  Whatever seeds you like.  It's a good way to experiment with stuff you haven't tried before.  Coconut, puffed rice, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, etc.

We've used the Bouncing Souls a few times with our recipes, but I've been listening to a lot of their later albums the last few days and it's just what's in my head.  So I'm using them again.  "Gasoline".  -jen

BANANA NUT GRANOLA
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:  30-40 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 10 cups

• 6 cups old fashioned oats
  
• 1 cup banana chips
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 2/3 cup sliced almonds
• 2/3 cup chopped cashews
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup flax seed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup (or honey)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (or canola oil)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• parchment paper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Place banana chips in a quart size Ziplock bag and use a rolling pin to smack the bag and break them up a little.

In a large bowl, combine oats, broken banana chips, coconut, almonds, cashews, pecans, pepitas, flax seed, salt and cinnamon.  Stir to combine.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine bananas, brown sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and sesame oil. Using a stick blender, puree mixture.  (If you don't have a stick blender, you can use a food processor, a stand mixer or a hand mixer.)

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until completely coated.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Spread half of the oat mix onto each pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring the granola every 10 minutes.  Granola should be golden brown.  Keep an eye on it, it can start burning quickly towards the end.

Let granola cool and store in an airtight container.

Uses:  mix with yogurt, eat with milk or almond milk like cereal, put in cookies, stir into your waffle or pancake batter, sprinkle on ice cream.