Recipe Swap: Cranberry Nut Granola

It's time again for another Blogger's Choice round of the Recipe Swap, hosted by Sarah of A Taste of Home Cooking. For this round I received Dawn's blog, Simple Gourmet Cooking and I couldn't have been happier. Dawn has such great-looking food and I had a really hard time narrowing down to just one for the swap.  The array of donuts alone was enough to make me crazy! But, finally I opted for a breakfast/snack item - Almond Cranberry Granola.

I've recently become very fond of granola with my yogurt for breakfast, but I also tend to get a craving for something sweet around 3 o'clock every afternoon, so I figured this would be a great healthier option! Ok, so maybe it's just an excuse to eat chocolate chips, but whatevs! This granola has just the right amount of sweetness to it, and I'm afraid that now I'm going to be addicted to it... I guess there are worse things, right??

I did have to make two batches because I burned the first batch (gasp!!), which also used up all of the almonds I had. Ugh. Oh well, nuts are nuts, right?? Let's just go with that. I'll make it again with almonds, though.

Don't forget to check out the other submissions for the Swap below!!

Almond Cranberry Granola
As seen on Simple Gourmet Cooking

Ingredients 

• 1 cup whole almonds (I used cashews)
• 1 cup unsalted or lightly salted roasted peanuts
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup plain oats
• cooking spray
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and lightly spray with cooking spray.
2. Place the nuts, sunflower seeds and oats in a bowl and coat lightly with cooking spray (about 2-3 sprays). Add 1 tablespoon of honey and the cinnamon; stir to combine. Spread mixture evenly on prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Cool on baking sheet. Once completely cooled, transfer to a bowl or storage container and add remaining tablespoon honey, dried fruit and chocolate chips.