Honey Nut Granola

This past weekend we had a family breakfast get together.  A few days prior to that my husband and I were discussing what to serve, and that's when we realized we hadn't had a breakfast get together before!  We've had company for breakfast, but not a big breakfast get together with all of our kids and grand-kids!  That's a total of 13...#14 is on the way, and I'm sure the number will continue to grow in the next few years.  I really am in need of a bigger house!  Well, more like a bigger living room and dining room, the rest of the house is fine the way it is I guess.

Anyway, when we have company I like to serve a variety of dishes so everyone can find something they like.  We figured with 4 kids in the mix we needed to keep it pretty simple.  We decided on pancakes, sausage, homemade cinnamon roles, scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, yogurt and granola.  I decided to experiment with the homemade granola this year (I get bored with the same old recipes sometimes).  As a general rule, I don't like to try new recipes when I'm about to have company in case it turns into a disaster.  However, I've made a lot of granola over the years, so I wasn't too worried that it would be a total flop.  Lucky for me it actually worked out perfectly.  I might even like this version more than my favorite granola recipe given to me by my friend Becca (sorry Becca, yours is still awesome, this one just has a different flavor)!  I don't know how anyone else felt about the granola, but I do know that I can't keep out of it!  I will definitely be making this one again!

Honey Nut Granola

1 cup Honey Bunches of Oates cereal
1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup cashews, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 tbsp ground flax seed
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Mix the cereal, flax seed, and oats together, and pour onto the cookie sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile in a small saucepan, melt the butter, maple syrup and honey together on medium-low heat.  Add the vanilla and stir until everything is well combined and the butter is melted, then remove from heat. 

Pour the oat mixture into a large bowl.  Add the butter mixture, cashews and cranberries to the oat mixture and stir until everything is evenly coated.  Pour it back onto the baking sheet and spread it out evenly, while pressing down firmly.  Place in oven and cook 20-30 minutes or until golden brown (do not overcook), stirring occasionally.  Remove from oven and let it cool completely before breaking it up.  I like mine as clumpy as possible, but you can crumble it all up if that's your preference.  Store in an air tight container.