THE Granola to END all Granolas AKA Maple Nut Granola

Halloween is over... candy is on sale.... I may have indulged a bit too much.... How about a healthy(er) recipe today? I love starting my day off with a bowl of granola. I have tried MANY different recipes, all delicious, but the other evening I hit a combination that transformed my granola into an ADDICTING, CANT GET ENOUGH OF IT, ANY time of day snack! I found myself reaching for granola breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and a heck of a lot in between too). I guess that eating it for every meal may cancel out the healthiness, but this granola is so good, I really didn't care. It combines the essential fall flavors of maple and brown sugar with creamy peanut butter. At first, this may seem a strange combination. But let me tell you, it WORKS! I have been eating this granola on fruit, with milk, in yogurt, on my ice cream, but mostly just by the fist full! It is crunchy and clumpy, which for me is an essential for a great granola. Feel free to mix in whatever your heart desires, but I recommend you just try it as is. You may decide, as I did, that this granola is simply perfection!

2 cups rice krispies

2 cups old fashioned oats

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup maple syrup

4 tablespoons water

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

3-4 tablespoons honey (depends how sweet you want it)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together rice crispies and oats.

In a heavy bottom sauce pan, mix together peanut butter, maple syrup, water and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved.

Pour liquid ingredients over oats and krispies, stirring to coat. Empty bowl onto baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Spread granola out into a thick layer. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Gently flip/stir granola (I use a large rubber spatula and flip it over bit by bit so as not to break up the clumps). Cook for another 6 or 7 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, allow to cool completely. Gently break into bite sized clumps.

*Note: Ok, so looking back at the ingredients I used, I realize that this granola has quite a bit of sweetness. But that's probably a good thing since, thanks to Halloween, my sugar intake has been pretty high. I don't wanna quit the sugar habit cold turkey. So this granola will keep me from going into candy withdrawl :)

Crunch, savor, enjoy.