Maple Butter Granola

This recipe is easy to double, triple or quadruple. I think you could make enough to feed a sizeable commune, if you had enough baking sheets and time.

— 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
— 1/4 cup (half a stick) salted butter
— 1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the maple syrup in a saucepan and put the butter in the maple syrup. Melt butter and syrup together over gentle heat until the butter disappears. Pour this mixture over the oats in a bowl, and stir until the oats are coated with it. Cover a baking sheet or two with the proto-granola; the thinner you spread it, the more quickly it will be done. Put the pans in the oven, and stir with a spatula every 7 to 10 minutes, or more often if you think it might be toasting quickly. This amount should take about half an hour, maybe a bit less. Don't let it burn!

Some handy tips: Remove granola to a metal bowl immedately after taking it out of the oven. (It's easier to get off of the pans when it's piping hot.) Soak pans in hot water before trying to clean the candified maple syrup off of them.

I imagine this stuff would be marvelous on top of vanilla or maple ice cream.

UPDATE: Allaire just told me it's actually 1/4 c. of butter (half a stick, not half a cup). I've corrected the ingredients list above, but this note is a record for all you recipe-copiers. If anyone's got really salty, oily granola, apologies!