Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola

With school on the horizon, I’ve been thinking of yummy snacks for lunches and quick breakfast ideas, and I immediately thought of granola.  Everyone loves it, you can make a huge batch at one time, it’s pretty filling, and you can eat it for pretty much any meal or snack.  This week I made a big batch of my granola recipe and added peanut butter chips and chocolate chips, and it was a HUGE hit!  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola was born!

It was literally devoured.  Three sheet pans worth of granola, gone in one day.  Granted, there are eight people at our house, but still!  It was packed for snacks, lunches, and we munched on it at home.  It’s the yummiest!

The basic granola recipe is so good that you can take it and really do anything you want with it, which is one of my favorite things about granola.  If you want to do this for breakfast, and you really don’t want to add chocolate or peanut butter chips, then add craisins or raisins and a pinch of cinnamon instead.  It’s very forgiving, so if you love coconut, add it!  If you love cashews, add them too, or sub out one of the other nuts.

PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA

8 c. oats

8 oz. chopped pecans

8 oz. chopped walnuts

1 1/2 c. sunflower seeds

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 T. vanilla

1 c. vegetable oil

3/4 c. honey

1/4. c. maple syrup

1 tsp. salt

6-8 oz. chocolate chips

6-8 oz. peanut butter chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine the oats, pecans, walnuts, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl and set aside. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, and vanilla in a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir with a wooden spoon to coat.  Spread evenly over a prepared cookie sheet–one that has been covered in foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake until toasted and crispy–about 20 minutes–stirring it halfway through. Cool completely (I had to break it into chunks first), then stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.  Store in an airtight container.  (If it lasts that long! )

VARIATIONS:  Craisins, raisins, coconut, white chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, almonds, cashews–sub for one of the other ingredients!  If you add ingredients, you will need to make a little more of the syrup.  If you’re using something other than peanut butter and chocolate chips, you can add 1 T. cinnamon to the syrup mixture while it’s cooking.

ENJOY!

Other yummy recipes…

Easy Cake Mix Cookie Bars

The Best Peanut Butter Cookies

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies