Vanilla, Cherries, Berries and Almond Granola

I guess that I have been in a granola rut. I have been buying the same granola for over 10 years. We have been buying it at our Farmers Market from The Sconeage Bakery and we love it and usually have a spare because it is that good. I have even made several emergency trips to the Farmer's Market for out of town company that has loved it so much, they wanted some to take home with them. 

We didn't make it to the Farmer's Market for a couple of weeks in a row and we ran out, so I decided to make my own. This recipe has everything that I like in a granola, oats, cherries and almonds, and the great taste of vanilla. I made a couple of changes to the original recipe. Instead of just dried cherries, I used Peterson Farms Cherry Berry Blend. This is a blend of Montmorency Tart Cherries, Cranberries and Blueberries. Thinking about the grandsons, I chopped them up just a little so there were some smaller pieces of fruit.  I also added more vanilla so that it had a bolder vanilla flavor.

It took me about 15 minutes to get the ingredients together and mixed together. I poured the mixture out onto a large cookie sheet, making sure that the mixture was evenly distributed. I put it in the oven and I set the timer for 10 minutes to make sure that I stirred it. I did this until four times until the 40 minutes was up. I let it cool and WOW, it is just as good as I was hoping it would be. I didn't want the molasses to be the overpowering and it wasn't. To change it a bit, I think next time I might make it will all honey and no molasses. The molasses does give it a richer color than they honey will. I'm glad it passed the Hubby test and the Wiley test! They said "Yummy"!

Enjoy!