Makes about 4 cups

¼ cup butter or margarine
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
3 cups oats
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup flaked coconut
1/3 - ½ cup nuts, chopped
(any combination of almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup dried fruit
(cranberries, raisins, chopped apricots, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a small saucepan combine and melt butter and honey. Reserve 1-2 tablespoons of wet ingredients. In a large bowl mix the melted butter and honey with the oats and sunflower seeds. Put oats and sunflower seed mixture on a parchment or foil lined rimmed baking pan. Bake for 12 minutes stirring often. Add the sesame seeds to the reserved butter/honey mixture then add the chopped nuts, coconut and sesame seed mixture to the oats and bake for 2-5 minutes or until the golden brown, watch carefully! Let cool and add cinnamon and dried fruit, store in an airtight container.

Note: This recipe can be endlessly adapted. You can add flax meal to the sesame seeds or mix in 1/3 cup wheat germ with the nuts at the end of baking. Except for the butter, honey, and oats, pretty much everything else is optional and can be altered to your liking.

Amy Sherman is a San Francisco–based writer, recipe developer, restaurant reviewer and all around culinary enthusiast. She blogs for Epicurious , Bay Area Bites and Cooking with Amy .