About Oats, p 353

I first used my Joy of Cooking soon after Christmas. At some point, in early January, I was making a batch of granola, and I didn't have my recipe cards with me. I knew what I'd put in, and roughly how long/what temperature, but it had been a while and I wanted to check my memory against some general guidelines.

So I went to page 353.
I skimmed over the basic Granola, Three-Grain Apple Cinnamon Granola, and Muesli recipes.
My head-recipe is closest to the basic granola... which stands to reason.

I didn't pre-toast the oats. That's silly when you're toasting it all in a bit.
I use butter, not vegetable oil, and none of the seeds and wheat germ that the recipe suggests.
I like my granola to have a good mix of oats, walnuts, almonds, and coconut-shreds--with honey and cinnamon. Also, the Joy of Cooking suggests the option of powdered millk--and this is the secret keystone of my granola, so I was glad to see a recipe that is smart enough to include it. When I was in the habit of making granola frequently, Terry and I found that without powdered milk, the granola was just like toasted, sweet-ish, cereal...but with the powdered milk mixed in, it becomes pleasantly clumpy with little granola bits. Plus, even though powdered milk seems a bit space-age 1950s and gross, there's something reassuring about knowing that you super-charged your cereal with milk!

I followed the 300°/ stirring frequently instruction.
The recipe says to go for about 45 minutes. I let it bake for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes...and after aobut 45 minutes I lowered the temperature a bit to keep it from overbaking.

well done!