Brown Sugar Granola

1/2 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
3 T butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups raw almonds


Mix oil and brown sugar in heavy saucepan. Heat at #6 (just above medium) until brown sugar starts to flow within the oil and bubble. (it will not dissolve). Separately microwave the butter, and mix in the cinnamon and vanilla.

Pour butter mixture over oats/almonds in very large bowl, mixing it well thoughout with rubber spatula. Then pour oil/sugar into bowl and stir quickly, taking care of the heat. Distribute into oats as well as possible.

Prepare two half sheet pans with parchment paper (both need to have paper. Do not use silicone for one as they will cook unevenly.)  Spread half the granola mixture onto each pan.

Put into oven, one on each side on different shelves. Bake at 325 for no more than 25 minutes. Stir granola every ten minutes, and rotate pans from upper to lower shelf. Do not let it burn. Let fully cool before transferring to storage.

Note: At 28 minutes one pan was getting quite dark so was too long.

Based on this recipe https://www.kitchentreaty.com/how-to-make-granola/. Using all brown sugar is much cheaper than honey or maple syrup. It might be easier to use white sugar and molasses, might experiment with that another time.

Notes: 6/7/2020 I tried half honey half brown sugar. I also realized that the black cookie sheet cooks the granola faster than the light cookie sheet. So I baked the granola in the black cookie sheet 20 minutes and the light cookie sheet was 30 minutes.