Healthy Granola Snack Mix

Every since I tasted the Girl Scouts Cranberry Orange snack mix I've been wanting to try making it myself.  This is my first try, not perfect but wildly delicious on its own.  It does have cranberry juice in it but I didn't have any dried cranberries so I used dried cherries.  Maybe it would have tasted more like the real thing if I'd had those tartly delicious cranberries.. I'll give that a try the next time.  And because of not having those berries I kind of went over board and added a lot of things I'm sure they don't have in their mix..  I not only used sliced almonds, I added pecan's and walnuts too along with dried apple chunks.

I figured if I couldn't make the real McCoy then I'd make up a bowl of goodness of my own.

And it is good

Here's my recipe if you'd like to make some

Heat oven to 350

Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray

In a large bowl add

2 cups of old fashioned oats

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup pecan pieces

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup diced dried apples

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all together and sit aside

In a small sauce pan add:

1/3 cup maple syrup (I'm sure dark Karo would work as well)

1/2 cup cranberry juice

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Bring to boil over medium heat stirring constantly

Pour over the oat mixture and mix thoroughly.  

Spread out on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.. stir and bake an additional 15 minutes or until brown.

I wanted to make sure it was dry and crispy so I then spread it out on dehydrator sheets and dried it for 2 hours at 145