Coconut brown sugar granola

My mental to do list today involved "clean out the pantry". You know, those little loose items that either need to go in a mason jar or get used up? 

I jotted down in my mind: about 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, a cup-ish of shredded coconut, the last shake of those sesame seeds, a quarter jar of wheat germ, the rest of that brown sugar about to dry out, and the dried cranberries. Oh and, Amy, don't forget: finish those berries and that open almond milk before they go bad.

Then as I opened the kitchen cupboard to a large bag of organic rolled oats it all came together like a lightening bolt: GRANOLA!

While I usually just wing it with granola I wanted to see what some recipes online do with brown sugar (as I've most often just used equal parts coconut oil and honey or maple syrup). But then ... *THEN* ... the first recipe that popped up for my search literally called for these ingredients:

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup sunflower seeds (no shell)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup each: brown sugar, honey, butter

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 cup raisins (I used dried cranberries)

Serve with: berries and milk

SAY WHAT! Things like this happen to me all the time. Sometimes I make a recipe then as it's baking I will look up how other people make the same thing and it'll be identical to what I just totally made up. Kitchen coincidence!

So here's how you do it:

1. Preheat to 300F. 

2. Grease or line a baking sheet. Toss the first 4 ingredients and let toast in the oven for 20 min. Toss if you need to, a few times. Turn up to 350F. 

3. Warm the next 3 ingredients til liquified and mixed, then toss with oat mixture, adding the raisins and germ also. (I added sea salt and cinnamon now - mmmmm!) Toast another 10-20 min. Stir a few times during. 

4. Use a wooden spoon to remove from pan into a large container and let cool, then seal up. Will keep for at least 2 weeks. Eat with almond milk and berries!