As much as I love looking at recipes and trying them out, I’ve never really been one to create something on my own. Sure, if I have a good foundation to start with, I might play around with it, tweak it per our preferences, but this recipe is a first. An exclusive, if you will, because I winged it, crossed my fingers, and hoped it would work the way I wanted, and it did! Let’s just say the happy dance was happening in my kitchen last night.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups pistachios, shelled
• 1 1/2 cups cranberries
• 2/3 cup refined coconut oil
• 2 tsps. lemon extract
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Preparation:

Position oven rack to the middle slot. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the oats, pistachios, cranberries, and sprinkle in the brown sugar. In a glass measuring cup, melt the coconut oil, add the lemon extract and maple syrup. Pour over the mixture; stirring to combine. Spread mixture evenly on the baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to sit for another 20 minutes to harden before breaking apart. Store in an airtight container.

*Notes*:

• After I broke it apart last night, it was still somewhat soft so I let it sit out all night. This morning when I tried it again, it didn’t have quite the crunch I was expecting so I popped it in the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes at 325 degrees. This seemed to do the trick. Next time, I might just start off with 325 degrees.
• I wasn’t sure how the maple syrup would react with the lemon, which is why I used a combo of the brown sugar and maple syrup and was quite pleased when it worked just fine as the lemon outshined the maple. Perhaps in the future, I could go strictly with the maple syrup, raw honey, or even coconut sugar.
• The bag of shelled pistachios I’d purchased were lightly salted. If the nuts aren’t lightly salted, I’d add a 1/4 tsp. of salt.