Homemade Coconut Granola

I love The Barefoot Contessa. I love to read her cookbooks, and I love to cook her recipes and then eat the food.
I own one of her cookbooks, and in it is a recipe for Homemade Granola Bars.
I made them. And my kids hated them sooo bad, that I swore I would never make them again.
Well, sometime between then and tonight, I tried it again, and instead of using the mix as a bar, I crumbled it up and used it as granola! SO SO SO SO GOOD! I use it plain as a cereal, or I use it atop greek yogurt-which I love. I changed a few things here and there, so the recipe below is simply an adaptation of Ina Garten's original recipe, which you can find here.

2 1/2 cups oatmeal-I love it when I have old fashioned oatmeal around to use for this, but I usually don't, since we use quick oats all the time. Either works, however.
1 cup loosely packed coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
3/4 toasted wheat germ {It comes toasted from most stores}
3 TBS unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt {table salt will work}
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries

You can also add in dates, raisins, etc. according to your tastes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, coconut, and almonds together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. DO NOT LET THIS BURN! It tastes horrible burnt. I don't know personally. Of course not. I just...bet it does....

Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, coconut extract, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well.

{It is now important for you to realize that the wet mix is soooo good, that you should leave a few spoonfuls in the bowl so you can just eat that...}

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. When it comes out, let sit for a few minutes. Then break up the mixture with a spatula or wooden spoon, and cool until hard. Store in a lidded container and keep in the fridge.