Orange Blossom, Coconut and Sesame Granola

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and prepare a baking tray with parchment paper or a non stick mat.
2. Sauté in a pan the dry ingredients excluding the sugar (i.e. oats, wheat germ, coconut, sesame seeds, spices and salt). Once it’s fragrant, remove oat mix from pan and keep in a bowl on the side.
   Note: I’ve also made it with ground flax seeds in place of the wheat germ and it turned out great as well (I do however prefer the milder taste of the wheat germ over the flax).
3. Turn the heat to low and warm in the pan the oils, sugar, honey and orange blossom water. Once it starts sizzling pour in the dry ingredients, mix and sauté for about 2 minutes.
   Note: I used white refined sugar because that’s what I had at hand, if you try it with a different type please let me know how it works out (:
4. Spread the granola mixture on the tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven to stir it and make sure the edges don’t burn (I typically bring the part baking on the edges into the middle of the tray and move what was baking in the middle onto the edges). Turn the oven to 350 degrees F and continue baking for an additional 5 – 10 minutes.
5. Remove the tray from the oven and let the granola rest until dry. At this stage, feel free to mix in some nuts and/or dried fruit (my favorite is sliced almonds lightly toasted on the pan and candied orange peel —if I haven’t devoured it already—). Store in an airtight container.