Birthday Cake

Thank
you Smitten Kitchen (I think)!  These granola crusted nuts are sooo good
and sooo addicting!  I am eating them by the handfuls (and so is the rest
of my little family).  I have thrown portion control (let's be truthful, I'm not
that great at portion control to begin with) out the window and I may end up
eating the entire pan!

Granola
Crusted Nuts

3/4
cup old-fashion rolled oats

1/4
cup shredded or flaked unsweetened coconut

2
tablespoons pepitas, or another nut or seed of your choice

1/4
cup dark brown sugar

1/4
teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4
teaspoon kosher salt

1
large egg white

1
tablespoon water

2
cups walnuts or pecans

Preheat
oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a
food processor, pulse oats, coconut, pepitas, sugar, cinnamon and salt in short
burst until the mixture is very well chopped but not powdery.  In a large
bowl beat egg white and water until frothy.  Add nuts to bowl and coat
them very well, using a few more stirs than will seem necessary because if the
egg doesn’t get into the craters of the nuts, no granola will stick
there.  Pour oat mixture into bowl and very gently fold it together with
nuts, so that it just barely sticks.  (Just a few folds will do, too much
stirring and the granola coating will fall off the nuts.)  Spread nuts and
granola on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Sprinkle any granola mix
leftover in the bowl over the nuts.  

Bake
for 20-25 minutes (I kept mine in closer to 25 minutes), moving nuts around
just once in the baking time.  Transfer pan to cooling rack and let nuts
cool completely there.  Once cool, break up any nut clusters and place
mixture in container or eat.

Recipe
slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen