Danielle's Homemade Granola

I've been hoping someone would pick this recipe because I love it! I've made it a number of times, and lately I've been making it weekly in double batches. I love eating it for breakfast and Max likes to take it to work to snack on or eat for lunch.

This granola is so fast and easy to make, and you can totally customize it to your tastes. I've tried it with different kinds of dried fruit (craisins, dried cherries, dried apricots, dried mango), with whole and slivered almonds, and with chopped up chocolate chunks.

My favorite combination so far has been craisins, dried apricots, and slivered almonds. It's delicious with the chocolate chunks, but I've been leaving that out lately because I figure I just don't need that extra bit of fat and sugar in my daily breakfast.

Other than swapping out the fruit and nuts, I haven't made too many changes to the recipe. I've been adding more oats than it calls for because you can get away with less oil, sugar, and honey and it still tastes really good (although it's probably not as clumpy). I've also tried replacing half of the honey with pure maple syrup. I liked it that way, but again, it's less clumpy because the syrup isn't as sticky as honey. The maple flavor was not very noticeable, so I'm not sure if I'll make it that way again.

Fall is Here! Time for Caramel Apples!

This week's recipe is Vanilla Bean Caramel Apples on page 166.

I really wanted to do the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, but there appears to be a shortage of canned pumpkin puree. (I went to four stores and couldn't find any. One store employee said they've been out for weeks. I didn't know how many of you would be willing to make your own.)

These were pretty easy, and with good apples, they're pretty tasty. I used a vanilla bean, but I'm sure you could try it with vanilla extract (follow the maple extract instructions). World Market is a great place to get real vanilla beans for cheap. I got a packet with two vanilla beans for, I think, $4 (great place for other cool spices too!).

For dowels, I picked up some sturdy chop sticks at the grocery store. They were a little on the long side, but they worked great.

My caramel turned out to be a little too chewy. I don't think I overcooked it, but I would've preferred it to be a little on the runnier side. So if you don't like chewy caramel, err on the side of under cooking it rather than over cooking it.

I halved the recipe and it barely covered four large apples. Since I was halving it, I only used half of a vanilla bean, but I should've used a whole one. The vanilla bean smelled great, but the flavor wasn't very strong.

Overall, I was happy with the recipe. I don't think I've ever made my own caramel apples before, so it was fun to do. And caramel apples are the perfect treat to kick off Fall!