Homemade Granola

This is the sweet granola with cranberries.

This is the unsweetened granola.

Because I love Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) and almost all her recipes, I decided some time ago to make some homemade granola using her recipe.
Well, ok, with some adaptations because I did not want to buy honey on my last grocery shopping trip.
So not having the honey asked for in her recipe, I decided to be inventive.
I subtituted the honey with some boysenberry syrup I had in my fridge, but pancake syrup works just as well, as the syrup you will use (even a simple syrup made with water, sugar and vanilla thickened in the microwave for 6 minutes, with pause every 2 minutes) will concentrate even more and will eventualy have a hard cany consistency and will make the granola crispy when cool.

Ingredients:
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 and 1/2 cups oats (old fashioned are best, but I used quick cooking and they were great)
1/2 cup almond slices
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts or any nuts you like
1/2 cup cranberries
* if you like you can also add cherries and /or chopped dried apricots or even raising
cinnamon if you like it in your granola
1/5 cup vegetable oil
1/3 up honey or any syrup

Directions:
Toss everything and bake in a sheet pan at 350 F for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or even at 7 minutes intervals.
Cool down and store in an airtight container.
You will get crunchy clusters.
Yummy !

*** I made a batch of the above granola and then mixed up the following and in the end combined the 2.
They are really good and make awesome trifles !

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup oats

Directions:
Just toss and bake at 350 F for approx 20-30 minutes, strirring every 5 minutes as the coconut can burn easily.