Daytime Kitchen: Honey Granola

Natalie and Brittany are joined in the Daytime Kitchen with local food blogger Christina Nifong. September is National Honey Month, so Christina is making a delicious honey granola.

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

4 cups rolled oats

1 cup raw, unsalted nuts of your choice (good options: sliced almonds, walnut pieces, chopped cashews or chopped pecans)

1 cup of a second kind of raw, unsalted nuts; you'll want two for variety

1/2 cup raw, unsalted seeds (good options: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds or a grain, like quinoa)

1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

1/4 cup coconut sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. fine sea salt

1/2 cup applesauce

1/3 cup honey (local, if you can get it)

2 Tbsp. coconut oil (can use canola oil or sunflower oil if you prefer)

1/2-3/4 cup dried fruit of your choice (cranberries, pineapple, bananas, raisins and cherries are all tasty in this recipe)

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 325°F. Spread parchment paper on two standard-sized cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, stir together oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, sugar, cinnamon and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk applesauce, honey and oil. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the applesauce mixture all at once. Stir until everything is well-coated.

Spread granola evenly across two pans. Bake for 20 minutes in center rack of the oven, stirring once, after 10 minutes.

Remove from oven once granola is a toasty brown color. Let cool on pans for 10 minutes. Granola will gain its crunch as it cools.

Pour into large glass canister or other air tight container for storage.