Cherry-Almond Granola

I love making granola!  The prices on cereal anymore are simply outrageous, and there's just no comparison to the taste of freshly made granola.  The apple juice concentrate I used for this recipe was Old Orchard's 100% Apple Passion Mango, which gave the cereal a really fruity flavor!

2/3 cup frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
5-1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup toasted wheat germ
1 cup whole almonds, coarsely chopped
1 cup dried cherries

Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Coat 2 large baking sheets with sides with cooking spray.  In a medium saucepan, whisk together the apple juice concentrate, maple syrup, oil and brown sugar.  Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon and salt.   In a large bowl, combine oats, wheat germ and almonds.  With a large rubber spatula, stir in the juice mixture and toss to coat cereal. Spread the granola evenly on the prepared baking sheets.  Place each sheet on top and bottom racks.  Bake for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice.  If you're not using a convection oven, reverse sheets top to bottom and back to front, after the first 15 minutes.  Continue baking until lightly browned, another 15 minutes or so.  Stir frequently.   At this point, this will burn quickly, so you have to watch it.  I over baked mine a tad, but it was still delicious!  Transfer baking sheets to a rack to cool.  Add dried fruit of choice and store in airtight container for up to 2 months.
*  I found some awesome sheet pans for this at Costco-cheap too!  You definitely want pans with sides so  it doesn't spill all over your oven when it's stirred.