Granola (London, ON)

No one can get between me and my granola. Not even food additives and overpriced boxes have deterred me from stuffing my face with the crunchy delicious gold, though they did stall me for a few years.

As a student I'm pretty much permanently broke and somehow granola has become ridiculously overpriced, which means that for the most part my budget doesn't allow me to purchase the stuff. An irony considering it's still considered food for paupers.

I do however, have a method for getting around paying an arm in the leg for the stuff; I make it myself.

Buy:
Oatmeal (NOT instant)
Some maple syrup
And some light oil, such as sunflower or canola.

^These are the necessary ingredients.  The ingredients below just make your granola extra awesome.


Nuts
Dried fruit
Shredded coconut
Cinnamon
Allspice
Pumpkin pie spice
Peanut butter (only a little!)
Brown sugar

Proceed to mix the dry stuff in a bowl, and add oil. I don't measure because I rarely make a uniform amount. A light (barely there) coating is probably how much it turns out to be.

Then I add maple syrup, and by this point EVERYTHING has to be damp.

And now add extra spices (the more the merrier! And the less maple syrup you need to use!).

Put it on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper (it'll save you from cleaning up baked maple syrup) and put it in the oven at 350 C.  Flip with spatula after ten minutes or so, or when granola is beginning to brown. Be very careful though because it burns easily.

Also, it really gets crunchy when it cools, so don't over cook it.

Let cool.

INDLUGE. Do it. You can regret over-consuming the stuff tomorrow.

^How I made 12 cups of the stuff yesterday.