My Girls’ Chai Granola

The other night, two of Marissa’s best friends, Kaley and Lindsey, were over. They wanted to cook or bake, but my cupboards are currently pretty bare.

I had been thinking of baking up a batch of Chai something. Not sure what, but I’ve really been craving Chai lately. So we settled on Chai Granola, mostly because I had everything needed so no trip to the grocery store would be necessary.

They threw it together while I instructed (bossed them around) and snapped photos.

Three-Girls’ Chai Granola

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup wheat germ
1  1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground star anise
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup diced dates and/or figs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and wheat germ.

Stir in the cinnamon, cardamom, salt, ginger, nutmeg, black pepper, cloves, star anise, and allspice.

In a small bowl place the melted butter, honey, and vanilla;

stir to combine.

Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture;

mix together until the oat mixture is evenly coated with the honey mixture.

Spread granola onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and stir in the dates/figs.

Let cool completely. Store in a tightly covered container.

Makes about 5 cups

There aren’t any shots of the girls’ faces in the granola-making pictures because they were in their PJ’s and didn’t want to be seen in photos.

But just so you know just how gorgeous they are… that’s Lindsey in the red, Marissa in the middle, and Kaley -second from the right.

The other two beauties are Astrid, in the purple top, and Paige – the newly engaged Paige – on the right end. Love these girls! xoxo