Granola is a bittersweet recipe. Hailed as healthy and a go-to for so many diets, granola is versatile. Have it for breakfast, on top of a smoothie bowl, as a dessert – you name it, but most really good tasty granola has ingredients such as: butter, refined sugar or syrup. While I love granola, I’ve always hesitated leaning towards it. In my books, if it’s gonna have butter and sugar, I might as well eat a good slice of cake.
So, after many trials and in-depth research of jaggery for a project I’ve been working on, I have come up with a foolproof one.
This granola has gluten free rolled oats – the only kind I like to use to make granola. These oats are sturdier, larger and have flatter surface space to absorb the flavours while maintaining its shape. I’ve also given a stovetop option – I’ve done this many times and it works wonders – I like it more than the oven simply because I get more control on how long to toast them and save the errors for burning. Now chocolate seems to be the theme of life this month, so there is a good spoonful (read: heavy dose) of unsweetened cocoa powder swirled in. I’ve not added any dried fruits, just pumpkin seeds and cashews – but I’ve given an estimate of ¾ cup mix so you can add whatever you like (read: have!).
Again, like most of my recipes, this is adaptable to your liking – add whatever you like, however much you like.
Many years ago, I posted the principles of granola making here – do have a read and start personalizing yours!
The Recipe
Serves
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats
- ¾ cup desiccated coconut shreds
- ¾ cup seeds + nuts*
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup jaggery, broken up or powdered - divided
- ¼ cup cocoa powder unsweetened or cacao powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vanilla essence
- *nuts can be pre-roasted
Instructions
- Prepare a medium baking tray with brushing vegetable oil on it and all the sides
- Preheat the oven to 150C
- In a bowl combine the coconut oil, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla essence
- In a separate large bowl, stir the rolled oats, seeds and nuts
- Take half the jaggery and combine with the dry ingredients
- The other half amount of jaggery stir into the coconut oil mix
- Then pour the liquid into the oats and mix well
- Transfer to the baking tray and layer out and bake for 20 minutes, stirring 3-4 times in between
- On the last toss, remove the tray, add the coconut shreds and combine and bake for the last 5-8 minutes (if adding dried fruits, add it in at this point)
- Remove from oven, stir and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight jar.
- Stovetop directions:
- Instead of putting into oven, take a large deep wok and place on medium heat
- Once hot, pour the mixture into the wok and keep stirring until well toasted and fragrant.
- Towards the end, add in the coconut shreds and toss again for a few more minutes. (if adding dried fruits, add it in at this point)
- Once well toasted, remove the mixture into a large tray and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight jar.
- Shelf life: 3 weeks
