Crunchy Rolled Oats

I have a pack of rolled oats that has been sitting in the pantry for several months now. I bought it when I learned six months ago that I have high cholesterol and instead of asking for prescription drugs, I opted to adopt a healthy lifestyle by exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet.  The first thing on my mind back then was to eat oatmeal regularly.  But I realized I can't enjoy eating oatmeal cooked with milk anymore as much I used to 24 years ago.  To avoid the gooey texture, I once ate it by just pouring milk on raw oats and I didn't like it still because of its chewiness.  So I looked for ways on how to make these rolled oats crunchy and based on various recipes, here's what I came up with:

I mixed together 3 cups of rolled oats, 1 tbsp brown sugar and 1/4 tsp salt.  I added to it 1/3 cup of honey, 1/4 cup of applesauce (instead of oil) and 1 tbsp of vanilla.  I used my hands in making sure that the oats were well-coated with the honey mixture.  I laid everything on a cookie sheet and baked in a pre-heated 325F oven for almost 45 mins, and stirred the oats every once in a while (every 10 mins) to prevent them from burning.  They were so crunchy that I couldn't wait to pour milk on them and as soon as they cooled off, yum yum yum! =) I actually enjoyed eating them more than cereals because they maintain their crunchiness.  And my nit-picking husband, who so-criticized my lumpiang sariwa (vegetable spring roll) earlier, liked them as well!