Gluten-free granola

Gluten-free cereal is really expensive. I have a rule that I'll only buy it on sale. Usually I can find it marked-down often enough, that I nearly always have a box around. But lately there have been no sales to be found, so I've been going without cereal.

That's why today I decided to try making my own granola. I used a recipe from Cooking Light that I had made once before for Christmas gifts, but this time I made some pretty substantial changes to it.

CHERRY ALMOND GRANOLA

2 cups millet
1 cup buckwheat groats
1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup chopped slivered almonds 

1 cup coconut

1  tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup pomegranate-cranberry juice (that's what I had in the fridge. The recipe calls for orange juice)

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 300.

Combine the first six ingredients (millet through cinnamon) in a large bowl.

In a sauce pan, combine juice, honey, and brown sugar. Heat over medium heat until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in oil and almond extract.

Pour the honey mixture over the grain mixture, stirring to coat.

Spread the mixture in a thin layer onto a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 300° for 10 minutes; stir well. Bake another 15 minutes and stir. Repeat this process until the granola turns golden brown. (This may take a while. I got impatient and turned up the oven, which resulted in burnt granola).

Allow granola to cool, then break it into chunks and place in a bowl. Add cherries and mix.

Even though, I burned my granola, I think it's super tasty. This recipe is definitely a keeper, although I'm not sure it's any less expensive than buying full-priced cereal.