Browned Butter Maple Vanilla Skillet Granola

I’ve made homemade vanilla granola plenty of times. But today, I made browned butter vanilla granola in a skillet.

I eat yogurt with fruit and granola 2-3 times a week. It’s easy, it’s filling, and hits a lot of nutritional notes. So I almost always have a variety of things on hand to make this. This morning, I chopped my fruit, added my yogurt to the bowl, and went to get some granola and…nothing. Okay, not nothing, but what I dug out of the back of my pantry was stale and chewy. Not in a good way.

I thought about just eating the granola and fruit. Because that’s what a normal person would do. But instead, I whipped up this quick and easy homemade vanilla granola. With only a few ingredients, it came together quickly, and actually turned out way better than I had hoped.

I started with some browned butter, added bit of brown sugar, both vanilla and maple extract, and some chopped almonds. Some crunchy salt at the end rounded out the crunchy, nutty, sweet, and salty snack. It took about 10 minutes start to finish and then I let it cool for a few minutes before sprinkling on my yogurt.

The key to this is getting the butter right. Start in a stainless steel skillet, and when it is just beginning to brown, add the sugar and oats and turn the heat down. Let it go to long and you’ll end up with burnt tasting granola instead.

This doesn’t form big clusters of granola like you may be used to, so it’s not the best for eating straight out of the container. Instead, it’s loose and crunchy, with big buttery flavor, hints of both maple and vanilla, and extra crunch from whole almonds that have been chopped. It’s definitely the kind of granola that is better for sprinkling instead of snacking.