sunday sweets {honey granola}

Happy Monday, I hope you all had a great weekend. I realize this isn't a very decadent sweet, but I'm still attempting to detox after the holidays, sort of. Anyway, I thought it might be nice to have something other than cookies floating around the house this week, and this is actually really good granola.

While in Paris, I visited Rose Bakery, owned by the lovely Rose Carrarini, author of Breakfast, Lunch, Tea. I spent quite a few mornings there for a couple of reasons; one, it's delicious, english bacon, tarts, cakes, breads, it's amazing; two many of the people working there are from the states, so I didn't have to feel embarrassed for not speaking French; and three, they served "big coffee." Big coffee is regular coffee for us, but when you're in Paris it's hard to come by, everyone serves espresso. The bakery is so charming, I definitely suggest paying a visit next time you're in Paris. The book, is just as lovely, and it includes a ton of recipes from the bakery, including this one for the perfect granola.

Ingredients:

5 1/3 cups rolled oats

1 1/4 cups whole almonds

2/3 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1 tbsp wheatgerm

1/2 cup sunflower oil

1 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 handfull of dried fruit, like raisins, currants, or dates

milk, soy milk, or yogurt to serve

Directions;

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a bowl, mix the oats, almonds, seeds and wheatgerm.

3. In a saucepan cook, stirring constantly, sunflower oil, honey, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt over high heat. Bring to a boil and then pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well. There shouldn't be any liquid at the bottom of the bowl, the mixture should be sticky, if it's too wet add more oats.

4. Spread out evenly on a baking try and bake slowly for an hour. Reduce the temperature to 275 and continue baking until the granola is golden- about a half hour. Switch oven off and leave to dry out for another hour, or overnight.

5. When cool, serve with dried fruit and either milk or yogurt.