Day 45: Candied Almond Granola

I've had to switch up my breakfast lately because of work and I am desperately missing my oatmeal. Normally, I start every day with a big bowl of old fashioned oats with a tablespoon of honey, a dash of vanilla extract, and a tsp of cinnamon. Lately, I've just been eating some yogurt on the road to work and it's just not doing it for me. So what better way to get those oats back into my life than making some homemade granola??
One of my first recipes was a granola but it wasn't my favorite and I've been meaning to take another try with it. I've been craving almond cookies lately so adding some almond extract in the granola will be a healthier alternative for now. I also had a can of salted almonds and candied them before starting my granola. I like the sweet and salty combination and it adds some extra punch to the granola rather than regular almonds. I added fall spices like ginger. cinnamon, and nutmeg because fall spices are my favorite and I can't get enough of them!!
I love granola because it is so versatile, so play around with your favorite chocolate chips, spices, nuts, and extras- you can't go wrong with granola! This definitely won't be my last granola recipe.. I feel like I'll be making a new batch every month!
Enjoy!

*Ingredients
-Candied Almonds
1 oz can salted almonds
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cinnamon
1/4 cup honey

-Granola
3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1 cup candied almonds
2 TBS shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup honey
dash salt
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
3 TBS coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup Reeces Peanut butter Chips
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, warm honey with ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add almonds to saucepan. Stir in almonds until evenly coated and spices are evenly distributed. Pour almond mix onto your lined baking sheet. Bake for 5-8 minutes. Be careful not to overcook these, they burn quickly. Once your almonds are done, stir them a few times so they don't harden into one clump. Let cool and set aside. If you don't want these for your granola, you can keep them in an air tight container so you can enjoy them as a snack!

Raise oven temperature to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray.
Take half of your almonds and roughly chop them, leave other half alone; set aside.
Pour oats, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and shredded coconut in a large bowl and combine.
In the same saucepan as your almonds (or a clean regular saucepan if you're not making candied almonds) combine honey and coconut oil on low. Stir to dissolve coconut oil. Once melted together, add almond and vanilla extract. Pour honey mixture in your oat and nut bowl and stir until evenly distributed and all of your oats are covered.
Pour bowl of oats on lined parchment paper and spread evenly on baking sheet. bake for 5 minutes, take out of oven to stir, spread back evenly along pan, and bake for an additional 5 minutes (edges will be nicely golden brown). When they're done baking, add your almonds to the mix so they can be incorporated with the granola (we didn't add it to bake with the oats because we just baked them previously and don't want the coating to burn).
Once done, pick up parchment paper from pan (carefully) and let cool off of baking sheet. Once granola is cooled, break and add to a large bowl. Add chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and raisins to the bowl and stir to combine.
Store in an airtight container and enjoy by itself as a snack, over some yogurt, even over some ice cream!
Enjoy :)