Hi loves! Ahh, you know those certain things that you want to do and for whatever reason, it takes you foreeeever to do it and then once you do it you say to yourself…”what the hell took me so long to do that?” Well, making granola is one of those things for me! haha
I have been wanting to make my own granola for like, forever – and it just never happened! That is, until a couple weeks ago, while Adam was out of town, I basically came home on a mission to make a batch of homemade granola! I had everything I needed & knew I wanted to use in the house, so I went for it!
As I said above, I don’t know what the heck took me so long because
1) its like the easiest thing to make. EVER.
2) its so yummy
3) making your own granola is WAY healthier than eating store bought
and 4) Adam totally loved it which makes me even happier about the whole homemade granola thing!
You see, a lot of people think that granola is like this health food that is soooo good for you. And it is SO the opposite! That’s one of the reasons why I’ve been wanting to make my own for so long – because I’d have this yearning to eat granola (fruit, yogurt & granola!? YUMM) but you’d never catch me eating granola from the store. So for all these years, I’ve been granola-less. lol
If you actually read the label on many of those yummy, often flavored, granola mixtures sitting on the shelves, they are loaded with sugar, sugar, sugar and unhealthy carbs.
So! Enter my super healthy and gluten free granola recipe! The only sweetener I’ve used is a 1/4 cup of pure, organic maple syrup for the entire batch – that’s it! This granola recipe is full of good-for-you, clean ingredients!
HEALTHY GLUTEN FREE GRANOLA W/ NUTS & SEEDS
INGREDIENTS
gluten free oats. 1/4 cup (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
raw almonds. 1/4 cup
raw walnuts. 1/4 cup
raw pepitas. 1/4 cup
unsweetened coconut flakes. 1/2 cup (i used Trader Joe’s)
cacao nibs. 1/4 cup
organic maple syrup. 1/4 cup (Trader Joe’s)
grey sea salt. 2 pinches
cinnamon. 1/4 teaspoon
METHOD
Preheat oven to 325°
In a food processor, add your almonds & walnuts and pulse, pulse, pulse until you get a rough chop on your nuts
Add your pepitas into the food processor with your walnuts & almonds and give just a couple pulses.
In a large bowl, add your oats + nuts & seed mixture and give a good mixing with your hands.
Next, add your sea salt, cinnamon & maple syrup to the bowl and
mix, mix mix, but with a spoon now.
On a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, evenly spread out your oat mixture and put in the oven for 10 MINUTES (set.a.timer)
After the 10 minutes is up, pull your baking sheet from the oven, give it a good mix then add your coconut & cacao nibs. Make sure you’ve spread your granola evenly on the pan again.
Pop back in the oven for 10 more minutes. (yes, set the timer, again)
Remove, granola from the oven again, give everything a good mix one last time, make sure your granola is cooking evenly & nothing is burning and pop back in the oven for 5 more minutes.
Remove for the last time, allow to cool and totally nibble on your warm & delicious granola as its cooling! haha
A couple tips from moi :)
during each 10 minute period, open the oven and check that your granola isn’t burning & give a little mixing.
Sea Salt. If you can, go and get yourself a good quality salt. Don’t use processed table salt. 1) its not good for you 2) it just doesn’t have the same effect as a pink, black or grey salt. I promise! Taking a bite of this granola and getting a little hint of the saltiness + the slight sweetness from the maple syrup!? Mmmm! Its everything, guys!!
I really love making things in small batches and always love eating super fresh foods, so I went with a pretty small batch of granola, using 1 cup of oats. Feel free to double up everything if you’d like to make a bigger batch!
Add to fruit & yogurt or a smoothie bowl & enjoy!! xx
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