Homemade Granola

 Yesterday evening I was craving a sweet snack, so I made a quick batch of granola.  With the cool weather here (not to mention an awful flu bug), we've been cooped up inside... which means I do quite a bit of baking as time in the kitchen is always a welcome way to pass the time while dreaming of warm summer days.

 I found a really wonderful recipe for granola that uses natural sweeteners.  I've been trying to cut down on the use of refined sugars in our diet (although by no means have I been completely successful).  This recipe uses pure maple syrup and honey to sweeten and tastes so delicious you won't even notice the difference. 

 You can find the recipe here.  I followed her instructions as written, but did eliminate the seeds (simply because I didn't have the majority of them in my pantry) and used an equal amount of melted unsalted butter instead of the coconut oil (again, because that is what I had). 

 The end result is crunchy, flavorful and practically guilt free.  (Not to mention cheaper.) 

 I love eating granola with milk, yogurt or even grabbing a handful plain to snack on.

Growing up, my mom frequently had a container of fresh homemade granola.  When I make it, it brings back memories of the smell of oats baking in the kitchen.  Do scents in the kitchen ever bring back memories for you?

Our breakfast this morning (smile). 

On the recipe site, it suggests using the granola as a hostess gift.  What a perfect idea!  That prompted me to think of cute (yet easy) packaging.  I love these round kraft paper labels that Avery makes.  You can even design your label online... they have all kinds of templates, or you can create something yourself, like I did here.  (I've used them for tags too in the past.) 

The labels fit perfectly on a mason jar lid.  Fill your jar with granola, tie a piece of twine around it, and you're done!

 The labels also work on the jars of your pantry goods, which is ultimately where my label ended up.  

I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I have!

P.S.  As usual, I had an assistant at my "photo shoot"...(smile)

Sources:

Bowl is from the Mikasa Antique White collection

Cloth napkin and milk pitcher are from Anthropologie (a few years ago)

Glass canister, mason jar, labels and jute twine all purchased from Wal-Mart
Red baker's twine ordered from Amazon