My sister gave me some granola at the holidays, and when I finished it I decided to make some of my own... with recipes off the net. Well, they turned out SOOO sweet I got my sister's great recipe for the next batch. I made it yesterday, and it came out great!!

Granola:
Dry Ingredients:

3 lbs (1 gallon) rolled oats
1/2 lbs almonds (raw)
1/2 cup sesame seeds (raw, unhulled)
1/3 cup wheat germ (or ground flax seed)

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup oil (i use canola)
1 cup honey
2 1/2 Tbs vanilla

Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl. In bowl of small mixer combine
all wet ingredients until uniform (or by hand using a whisk). Mix wet
thoroughly into dry by hand (and forearm). Scrape oats and seeds of
arms, floor, and other cooks. Spread onto cookie sheets, not too
thick, it should uniformly cover the tray but not come up higher than
the lip on the edge. Bake at 215-225 for ~hour. Rotate the pans
forward to back and top to bottom. Do not stir (unless you're adding
raisins, dates, or other "goodies". Bake for another hour. Check for
burning. If it is not golden brown and does not smell like granola yet
bake some more. Let cool thoroughly before depanning. When you take it
out of the oven it will not yet be crisp, letting it cool in the pan
will dry it out and make it that crunchy texture we all know and love.

Long slow baking is essential to this recipe, no cheating.

Oiling the pans very, very lightly with a teeny tiny amount of oil
before you put the granola on makes it much easier to depan when it's
been baked.

I usually add dates (1/2 - 3/4 cup of them) halfway through the
baking. the first time i added them at the beginning and they turned
out really hard. the same goes with raisins, cranberries,
blueberries, dried apples, cherries, etc. if you're adding nuts they
should go in at the beginning so they can roast (which is why they can
be raw, and thus, less expensive).

if you're adding shredded coconut it can go in at the beginning.

also 1 thing to remember is that if you're adding other things you'll
want to decrease how much you put in (otherwise you'll have too many
dates, like what you experienced that morning at mom's, but both sylva
and i tend to pick dates out and eat them, so it makes sense to have
too many vs too little)

I made a half-batch and added dates, papaya, dried apple, and almonds and walnuts went in at the beginning. I substituted freshly ground flax seed for the wheat germ, and love it! Enjoy! I also used glass pans and had less stickage!! I will never use a cookie sheet again.