Amazing Granola

This is adapted from the recipe in the cheese board's collective works for their "killer granola." The main difference is the absence of coconut and presence of many, many nuts and seeds in my version.

This is insanely easy to make. As someone who loves granola but is very picky about what should be in it, I love making my own and having it just my way. It keeps well in an airtight container, is cheap to make and easy to gift.

Measurements are approximate. Preheat oven to 325.

2 tbs butter
salt to taste
2 cups total chopped nuts: pecans, walnuts, almonds (or your favorites)
2 tsp honey
1/4 c. sugar of choice
dash of vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1/4 c. sesame seeds
1/4 c. flax seeds

In a pan, melt the butter over pretty low heat. Add the salt and your nuts, stirring well to evenly coat them all, and bring the heat up just a bit. Toast the nuts until they are golden and beautiful, but keep a careful eye on them because they can burn quickly if your heat gets out of control. I burnt my first batch but it still tasted great. When the nuts are ready, add the honey and sugar and bring the heat back down to low until the sweeteners are melted and gooey. Kill the heat and add the vanilla.

Combine the oats and seeds in a big bowl, add the nut mixture and mix it all up like woah. Spread the mix evenly over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I *love* parchment paper) and bake for 15 minutes. Stir it around and redistribute at that point, and bake for another 10-15 minutes until it's all golden toasty. Let it cool completely on the hot pan, since it will continue to toast from the residual heat.

The nutty bits are the best part of this, so you can try to mix them in as much as possible (so that all of it becomes the best part of it), or you could deliberately leave big nut clusters. You could add raisins or coconut flakes, but I don't like either of these things in granola -- raisins get too chewy after baking and coconut is weird. I bet dried fruit could be mixed in after it cools (or while cooling perhaps?) if you just have to have fruit.