Apple Crisp Granola

I came up with this recipe when I was thinking of making something sweet, but not too unhealthy. I wanted to recreate something healthy and portable that he could take to school or work to snack on, and would last a little longer than the comforting fall-like dessert.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (genuine is preferred!)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup dehydrated, unsulphered apple slices (can be found at Bulk Barn)

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 275 F. Combine oats and cinnamon and mix thoroughly.
2.) Combine water, melted butter, brown sugar and maple syrup in a saucepan on low heat, just to combine the ingredients and dissolve the sugar.
3.) Pour mixture over oats and combine well, making sure the oats are evenly coated.
4.) Bake for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally and rotating pan as necessary.

Chewy Coconut Cowboy Cookies

If you've never heard of a 'Cowboy Cookie' before, you have probably never tried one, or perhaps you have and were completely unaware of their peculiar name. Cowboy cookies usually contain flour, oats, chocolate chips and sometimes nuts, they are a chewy cookie with a satisfying array of textures and flavours. The inspiration for these Coconut Cowboy cookies came to me when I was eating a Bounty bar recently and decided I would like to see a cookie that tasted similar yet contained oats and was chewy and sweet. Here's what I came up with..

The original recipe that I followed is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Chocolate-Coconut-Chewy/Detail.aspx but check out my version below!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut or almond butter
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup sweetened condesnsed milk
  
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups sweetened, flaked coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar until smooth. Add the peanut or almond butter and sweetened condensed milk mixing until well incorperated. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture until well blended. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips. walnuts and coconut until evenly distributed. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes for chewy cookies, extend the baking time to 14 for crispy cookies.
   
4. Cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet and then remove to wire rack. Cool completely and then store in tightly sealed container.