Date and Coconut Granola

Snowed in. Blizzard warning. No travel advised. I-94 and Highway 83 closed.

I love being snowed in.


And looks like Ben doesn't mind it either. Time to lick the window and make squishy faces!


Why is everyone in such a hurry to dig out and get out? I'm huddled in, snow piled up at the door, nowhere I need to be. Baby is playing at my feet, running his toy car over my toes.


We'll dig out eventually, but for the moment, let's make granola. I just pulled this out of the oven. Smells love-ly!


What is it about the winter and the upcoming new year that puts me in a granola mood? Last year about this time I made this granola - which I still love, but I had a pile of dates to use up and found this little number at Epicurious.com. Granola with butter? Yup, proving once again the old adage: butter makes everything better.

Date and Coconut Granola
Target has a great selection of raw nuts - I had some of their raw mixed nuts on hand and used them here, but obviously you can substitute. I also cut back on the sugar and allspice from the original recipe, since I'm OD'ed on sugar after the holidays and I'm just not big on allspice, but feel free to check out the original here.

2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup raw mixed nuts
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup (packed) pitted dates, each cut crosswise into thirds

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix first 7 ingredients in large bowl. Melt butter with honey in heavy small saucepan over low heat. Pour over granola mixture and toss well. Spread out mixture on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add dates; mix to separate any clumps. Continue to bake until granola is golden brown, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes longer. Cool. Store airtight at room temperature.