So a granola walks into a bar…and becomes a granola bar. If you’re looking for an easier way to make your own granola, try sophomore Alexa Posner’s recipe:

Makes around 12 cups

4 cups old-fashioned oats 1 ½ cup whole almonds, halved 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut 1 cup raw cashews 2/3 cup (packed) brown sugar 3 teaspoons ground allspice 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 4 tablespoons honey 2 cups chopped pitted dates Dried fruit

1. Preheat oven to 300F
2. Grease pan
3. Mix first seven ingredients in large bowl
4. Melt butter with honey in heavy small saucepan over low heat
5. Pour over granola mixture and toss well
6. Spread out mixture on baking sheet
7. Bake 30 minutes, making sure to stir often
8. Add dates; mix to separate clumps
9. Continue to bake until granola is golden brown
10. Cool and add dried fruit (Posner recommends raisins)

Posner and her mom started making the granola about a year ago after they found an article with the recipe in their local Telluride newspaper.

“The recipe is great because its super cheap and fun” Posner says. “My mom and I always made it together and the other day she actually sent me a picture of the granola she’d just made.

It was funny because I had just bought the ingredients to buy granola myself so I sent her back a picture that said ‘smells like home,’ because we always made it at home and its nice to have reminders of that here at Mac.” If you see Posner around campus, feel free to ask her for more quick and easy cooking tips.