California Granola

Whenever someone in my family celebrates a birthday, if I'm not with them, I like to mail them some kind of birthday cookie or treat. Becky's birthday is on Sunday, so I had to figure out something to make for her. Becky is a little nutritionally challenged. She's a vegetarian, she's a runner, and she can be a picky eater. Becky tends to not eat enough calories in the day, and often asks me to help her come up with menus that are vegetarian and contain a good balance of fat, protein, carbs, fiber, etc. One of my best recommendations to her for snacks or part of a meal is greek yogurt with granola containing oats, nuts and fruit. So for her birthday, it only seemed natural that I make a few granola varities for her. I had one variety in mind that I recently saw on Annie's Eats, but decided to just grab some other fruit and nuts and see what I came up with. Depending on the price of your nuts and dried fruit, you can end up spending a lot more making granola than buying it, but you can also control the quality of the ingredients.


I ended up making 3 varities for her, and I'll be posting them in the next few days!

California Granola

4 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup almonds, roughly chopped
1 cup diced mission figs
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp. canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce


Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Add all granola ingredients to a large mixing bowl, mix thoroughly.
Line a baking sheet with parchment, spread granola evenly on baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, use a fork to toss and redistribute, bake for another 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven, place cookie sheet on a cooling wrack.
Cool granola for 4 hours, place in a air-tight container.