Blackberry Granola With Wild Honey And Candied Fennel

• 3 pints blackberries (for blackberry syrup)
• 1/4 cup (+ 2 tablespoons) sugar (for blackberry syrup)
• 1/4 cup water (for blackberry syrup)
• 1 cup sugar (for candied fennel)
• 1 cup water (for candied fennel)
• 6 stalks fennel (for candied fennel)
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup hulled sunflower seeds
• 1 1/4 coarsely chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/8 cup blackberry syrup
• 3/8 cup wild honey (as opposed to tame, house-broken honey)
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup candied fennel

1. First, make the blackberry syrup.
2. Get yourself a medium pot, add the blackberries, sugar, and water together, and stir while you bring it to a boil.
3. Turn it down to a simmer, and let it cook until everything's become syrup; should take about half an hour. Make sure you press down on the berries once in a while; that'll help the berries break down faster and release the juices. Also it feels good to crush things. I recommend laughing manically while you do it.
4. Once all that's become syrup, press it through a sieve to get all the chunks out, then put it in a jar and let it cool in the fridge while you make the fennel.
5. Chop the fennel stalks on a bias (that means diagonally, people) into small slices.
6. Preheat your oven to 250.
7. Stir the sugar and water together in a small pan over medium-high heat until it's dissolved. Should take about 5 minutes.
8. Next, add in the fennel, turn it down to medium, and cook for another 3 minutes. Take it off heat, let it sit for 15 minutes, then take the slices out of the syrup and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can save the leftover syrup for some fancy drinks or something.
9. Bake the fennel for 30 minutes, stir them around a bit, then throw it in for 30 more minutes. When it's dry and sticky, you're golden.
10. Let the fennel cool to room temperature, then coat the pieces with some more sugar.
11. Turn up the oven to 300.
12. Now the easy part: throw all the granola ingredients except for the fennel together in a big bowl and stir. It's almost insultingly easy.
13. Spread the granola out in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Cook it for 15 minutes, stir, 15 more minutes, stir again, and 15 more minutes, and hey, you guessed it: stir again.
14. Once you've hit the 45 minute mark, stir in the fennel slices, then bake for 15 more minutes.
15. Take the granola out, let it cool, then put it in your preferred granola-receptacle and smash the crap out of it with a wooden spoon so you have those nice granola-y sized pieces. Then eat.

blackberries, water, sugar, water, stalks fennel, rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, vegetable oil, blackberry syrup, wild honey, light brown sugar, candied fennel

Taken from food52.com/recipes/31570-blackberry-granola-with-wild-honey-and-candied-fennel (may not work)